Fortunately the answer is very simple. I started out slow with barefoot running, but I also used some special barefoot running foot-gear that I am going to reveal in a moment. I suggest that you read this article carefully if you are considering barefoot running - so that you don't end up injured.

You see, barefoot running is a very challenging for the first two, two and half months...the reason for this is very simple: most of us haven't spent a lot of time going barefoot. Growing up, I didn't spend a lot of time going barefoot - my feet were in shoes. I have been running for just about 18 years now and before I started barefoot running, every race I was in, every training run that I went on was in shoes with a lot of cushioning.

Number one, all the nerve endings in the bottoms of my feet were under-stimulated, all the muscles in my feet were under-developed, my toes were all cramped together, there was no space in between them whatsoever - I had very little control over all those muscles when I started barefoot running.

The quickest, easiest and fastest way to make the transition from wearing shoes to barefoot running in my opinion is to start by barefoot running just a little tiny bit each and every day - that's phase one. I recommend no more than five minutes barefoot running at first because you don't want to stress, strain or ruin the skin on your feet.

If your feet are anything like mine when I first started barefoot running, I went out and every little pebble I hit was like, "OUCH!" You'll question why the heck are you doing this, that's fine, where you really want to focus your attention on number one is just getting out there barefoot running a little bit every day.

So I recommend five minutes barefoot running at first, for the first week...if you run five days a week, five minutes a day -- go out there just run five minutes as a kind of warm up to get yourself prepped and ready to go, then put on whatever normal shoes you're wearing and go out for your normal training run.

If you are not used to running at all, five minutes a day is great, even if you are not going to go out on another longer run after that I recommend five minutes barefoot running a day as frequently as you possibly can, if you can do barefoot running seven days a week all the better because it's going to train your mind and your body how to deal with the transition.

As you start to enjoy barefoot running a little bit more, what I recommend is get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. So far I've tried a lot of the minimalist footwear that's out there. I've found the Vibram Five Fingers were absolutely positively the best for making the transition from shoes to barefoot running.

So that is how to go from running in shoes, to barefoot running.

If you use Vibram Five Fingers you can train in them in order to get the muscles and the tendons in your feet used to barefoot running. You'll find that barefoot running "loads" your lower calf a lot more than running in shoes with heal cushioning because you really can't land on your heels at all, whether you're in Vibram Five Fingers or barefoot...it also starts to wake up the nerves a little bit more slowly than barefoot running.

But you want to be absolutely certain to do five minutes barefoot running a day on week one, 10 minutes barefoot running a day on week two, fifteen minutes barefoot running a day on week three and do five minute increment build ups - and you'll find that if you do that you won't wear your soles out and you will make the transition to barefoot running much more easily.