Jason Loutitt

As I approached the 4th or 5th turn on the stairs leading up to the waterslide drop of doom, I had to sit down. Something inside me grew and grew until it said I needed to protect my butt by not ascending any more and getting away from any edge. My life was in danger and my instinct was to pull away. That was over 30 years ago for this little soul but like all moments of introspection, timeless in acknowledgement like it just happened again and again. As I went through my 40th year this past year, I often found I returned to conditioning of analyzing my life in terms of progress or relativity towards societal norms. Not that this is bad but falling into behavior patterns such as belittling oneself or allowing an overindulgence on regret is worse than any behavior that got one there in the first place and this, I feel, is where the story starts.

Each step closer to the edge raised the heartbeat a little further and some dormant force inside raised it's power to command attention. What was I doing with my life, career, relationships, family, possessions, talent and skills? These were questions that didn't really announce themselves in my mind but were rather felt through my body and seemed to extend to the sky. It is such a challenge to put oneself out there to be poked and prodded by both their own fear and by the fears of others. You see, it isn't normal to accept that this life and our way of living perhaps isn't all it seems. That way is too tough and invites so many obstacles that get in the way of right living and while this way of life to 'challenge' status quo is in itself a cliche, our generation needs to truly accept that now is the most crutial moment for the future of humanity. It is the choices we make now that will mold our future on this planet, our sustainability and any definition of process as true progress.

This is where I stripped off all my clothes, felt the wind, looked at the thousand foot drop at the cliff edge and decided to simply put on a pair of simple sandals. For these past 4 months as a long distance runner, I have weaved through the cliff edges, spires and treetops with subtle movement of my feet. The return (and I do call it a return despite never running in them before) to using LUNAs as my main racing, training and living footwear has inspired, challenged and connected me like I always knew it would. The inspiration towards having wind, rain, sand and dirt run through my toes like my legs were doing through the forest or on the roads was enlivening. The challenge to build up my feet toughness, calf strength/ subtleness and propreoception and using LUNAs to all of a sudden racing, training and living in them; is a challenge perhaps easier for me than others due to the physical work I have done as an athlete for decades but the level of competition I jumped into, in using the LUNAs, was the equalizer.

Now after weeks of blisters, tendonitis and even an infection, I wish to share some tips and stories on how all of this has made me stronger and more connected. My first response from training in LUNAs was for my calves and soleus to repell. I could hear them crying 'where did you go 4mm drop!'. The lower legs were simply not used to both be at rest and work from a zero drop (flat) start point. My calves would be so tight and so extra stretching, yoga and soft surface running helped this over a few weeks. The first part of the dive from the mountain edge was complete and I could now feel the wind. Next up for the feet was them being not used to straps and all of a sudden racing 3-8 hrs, which resulted in extreme tendonitis flaring up for the achilles and the extensors along the top of the feet. My response was to sew in a slightly stretchier strap piece at the achilles and to move the strap buckle on top of the feet around during different runs in order to adapt to this over a few months. I also experimented with adding in hemp straps on more sensitive tendons and it worked. As the air caught inbetween the toes, I could feel my ability to guide my direction increasing. Like a wingsuit dive in lunas, I was committed. Prioritizing recovery, such as icing and contrat baths, for dealing with my sandal adaptation issues helped tremendously. The sudden 50klm trail racing after not even having a month of experience in sandals did flare up extensor tendonitis so much that I was almost sure I had incurrred a stress fracture. Not so and so as the story goes, the feet started to get tougher. All of a sudden, racing road races, marathons, ultras and mountain races in LUNAs wore away at the weaker skin on my feet much like I felt the depth of my understanding was wearing away at the weaker sides of my character. I had a tremendous amount of pain, blistering and soreness. Dealing with some of these issues while training and preparing for a world ultra trail running championships while living out of a tent and camping on a mountain was challenging. Inevitably it is also what I felt perhaps lead to a body infection that took its toll on my ability to perform. Just when I felt I was in charge of my LUNAs wingsuit flight, the wind changed and I was challenged. Getting blisters was from things such as not training with wet feet on the sandals, experimenting by trimming sandals down a little smaller for efficiency and putting in faster pace racing. Examples such as road racing while pouring water on myself to cool down, allowed the wet feet to wear away on the soles from minor friction. And although my prioritization on recovery is key to my success as an athlete, my stubborness to believe that I am immune to some stressors in developing my strengths or conditioning, allowed me to not stay on top of keeping fresh blisters covered, clean and healing. It was as if the sun was so bright and burning in my eyes as I flew over a hundred miles an hour through the canyons. This helped me feel like I was now a new me but I was more lost in seeing this feeling than actually seeing where I was going. So as I reached the top of the first mountain at the world championships and the sun was rising, I was still in good spirits but as the hours went on, I could tell it wasn't a day to push. A week later and getting diagnosed with an infection requiring weeks of antibiotics that have had it's toll on my body but my spirit and my resolve as a Lunas athlete is stronger despite. I rounded the last curve of the wingsuit flight powered by my connection to the elements and looked down at what I was using despite most thinking oh we need to use so much more. And in this metaphor of my choice of running footwear, I have choosen my wingsuit just as the wind seems to of choosen me to guide this way and that way. I have found my way of announcing I can get by with less and for this, I am so much more. For all of it, I am eternally grateful and now perhaps landing alongside you feeling more connected to what we cherish as important.