Now a Butterfly

Welcome to the new Barefoot Alliance! For more than a year, plans have been in the works to change the Primalfoot Alliance brand to this one. It is a much more clear identity for all supporters of bare feet to get behind, and we hope it goes far and is a key element in ushering greater societal acceptance of those who choose to live barefoot.

The symbol of our transition period was a cocoon. It was a symbol of the metamorphosis that was taking place behind the scenes. In much the same way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, this organization was becoming a new creature. Part of the transition period was some time off. Part of it was just time to deal with "life," as we call can understand. Now, it's time to be reborn.

Our core focus has remained the same: standing up for those who prefer to live barefoot.

Our mission, though slightly adjusted, is that "We advocate for people to go barefoot and let feet live free in their innate condition."

The Barefoot Alliance will have similarities to its previous brand, but also plans to use new strategy. We learned a lot since the "primalfoot" brand was launched in early 2010. Not only did we learn what people want to see from our Web site and social media, but we also learned what works best when it comes to sharing the benefits of barefoot activity and -- especially -- what brings about the greatest societal acceptance of barefoot living.

Over the coming days, weeks, months and even years, The Barefoot Alliance will be launching many initiatives to help grow the barefoot community and help the barefoot community advocate for each other. Some of them include:

• A Youtube channel with videos on various topics ranging from educational to legal to fun stuff.
• New resources to help barefooters spread the "good news" of bare feet in their respective areas.
• A directory of barefooting groups throughout the world and news about their various activities.

We also hope to expand on some things we were already doing. The goal is to post more updates to the blog, be they news about the Barefoot Alliance or sharing other information related to barefoot living. Likewise, we hope to more consistently post content to our Facebook page and Twitter accounts that our supporters will want to read and pass along.

We need your help!

If something about what we just said really piques your interest -- say you're good at coding databases that might be useful for creating a directory or you're quite the video producer and can help us make some videos -- we ask that you reach out to us on our Contact page.

Admittedly, some things from the "primalfoot" era were lost along the way. It turns out, a lot of what we were doing before didn't work or were not sustainable. We appreciate the willingness of various Website and blog owners to be affiliated with our site, but that official program was unsustainable and had to end (although we will still maintain the badge that so many embedded on their sites). The FAQ section was thorough and informative, but rarely read.

So here we are, starting over as a new "creature" with all the knowledge we acquired from before. Again, some things will stay the same. Some will change. But we will continue to advocate for bare feet, because "barefoot is human."

Olympics Features Several Sports With Barefoot Athletes

Many athletes find that their sport is best performed while barefoot. After all, going barefoot is a great way to maintain strength, flexibility and sensation in the feet!

As the Games of the 30th Olympiad begin in London, here's a list of events (in no particular order) that are worth checking out and regularly feature barefoot athletes:

• Diving
• Swimming
• Sychronized Swimming
• Water Polo
• Artistic Gymnastics
• Rhythmic Gymnastics
• Beach Volleyball
• Judo
• Taekwondo

We believe that if athletes in these sports can safely go barefoot, walking around in daily life -- even in public -- can be perfectly fine.

To check out ALL the sports represented at the Olympics, visit the official Olympics site.

Bosilevac Sets Women's Barefoot Running Record

Debbie Bosilevac, Primalfoot Alliance advisory board member and experienced ultra marathon runner, recently set what is believed to be a women's record by running barefoot for 76.62 miles (123.31 km) in 24 hours. No other woman is known to have run as far in a single event while barefoot. Bosilevac completed the effort on an approximately three-mile out-and-back course of concrete sidewalks and grass in Olathe, Kansas, on Saturday, May 12.

Bosilevac runs past a field on her way to 76.62 total barefoot miles.Several factors motivated her to do the run. It was this year's iteration of her tradition to run an ultra on Mother's Day weekend. More importantly, though, she did it to prove something to her three daughters - and to some extent, herself.

"We're all stronger than we think we are," she said at about the 70-mile mark, while wiping tears from her eyes, "and I want my kids to know that."

Her tears were from the emotions she was feeling, not from her feet - which were, admittedly, hurting quite a bit by that distance.

"We all have hard times, and I think that there's a difference between people who give up and who don't. And I think that you need to know that about yourself - that you don't have to give up. You have more left."

Her run began at 12:26 p.m. on Friday and concluded exactly one day later. While the first four or five hours were "fun," according to her, she did struggle with bouts of nausea and exhaustion. The drive chain for her spotter's bicycle jammed up at one point as well, but was eventually fixed. Despite those setbacks, Bosilevac holds an unofficial record for barefoot running by a woman.

"This has been an interesting experience," she said. "It's an experiment of wanting to conquer the least likely way that man was intended to go barefoot - on a sidewalk. On a crusty, textured sidewalk - with gravel. My feet have held up well. It's just been interesting to sort of tackle that."

Two days later, she shared how her feet were recovering very well, "I have never had this few problems when running distance before. Ever. I think it was the lack of shoes." On her blog post about the experience, she elaborated. "Most of the foot issues I have had in ultras are due to friction from shoes."

When asked what she'd say to those who claim people aren't meant to go barefoot on sidewalks or other hard man-made surfaces, she said, "Yes, if you wear shoes every day and never exercise those muscles, you certainly weren't, but you can be. It's easy to do. I routinely walk my dogs and run the sidewalks barefoot. And that's just fine."

Bosilevac rests inside during a refueling/evaluation stop.She relayed a story about an experience had by one of the ladies on her crew during the event.

"She swears by her heels - swears by them - and she's had a lot of foot pain lately. She came out to run the dogs earlier and decided not to put her shoes back on. And she had no pain running, which was a first for her in a long time."

Bosilevac shared what she believes is the bigger picture of going barefoot.

"It's very child-like. I think that one of the problems in the world today is that we try so hard not to be child-like anymore. That's really sad that we've lost that, because that's one of the great joys in life - is to retain that childhood joy."

She will be sharing about her 24-hour barefoot ultra marathon on Saturday, May 26, at the local event for Your Day Without Shoes 2012 in Kansas City, Missouri. More information about that event and other YDWS topics can be found at YourDayWithoutShoes.com.