[cladopa]

I have run barefoot and used minimal soles for more than 20 years, also using "normal" shoes from time to time, most of the time I use minimal, no heel soles. That is something I did when I started working from home long hours as heels were very harmful for me.

If you are thinking about doing it when you never did before, DON'T. You should be doing a progressive transition. It changes your knees, ankles and calves. It should take at least 6 months to a year.

If you don't do that, you will injury yourself. People running Marathons barefoot suddenly are risking a lot.

[angrysaki]

About 20 years ago I changed from running in basketball shoes to minimal shoes. At the time I was only running about 5K. It took me about 10 months to work up to 5k in the minimal shoes.

My general approach is to run less far but more often since you usually don't notice tendon injuries while you're exercising, but a day or two later.

[sandos]

I have a bad heel on my right foot, and I have had to "walk on my toes" basically, without putting much pressure on the heel. It was excruciating in the beginning, I hated it. Now I do it without thinking much about it.

My problem? I walk on my left heel normally... Duh. Resulting in very assymetric walk. I am trying to "fix" this. It will probably take another 6 months or year..

By the way, running on toes feels wonderful compared to walking on your toes, in my opinion.