Dan Czerwonka
After graduating law school and working at a big firm, I got terribly out of shape. I decided to start running, even though I hated it. I decided to make myself love it and make it part of my life. It was a slow start. At first, I couldn’t even run a mile without being out of breath. But I loved being in the woods in Rock Creek Park in DC. It was right in my own backyard and I never took advantage of it. Until I started running. What a transformation! Within the first year, I was able to run 12 miles and I felt and looks soooo much better. Then I moved to LA and my good friend and cancer survivor asked me to do a full Ironman with him. Having never done a triathlon before in my life, I agreed on the spot and we signed up for IM France-Nice. 
I bought a 6-month training program from trainingpeaks.com and followed it as closely as possible. 6 months later, I finished IM France-Nice in 14hrs37min. I’ve since done a ton of tris and other races since then, but I always battled crazy plantar fasciitis and knee pain with spurts of back pain in and out. I started surfing alot and running on the beach near a friend’s house in Del Mar, and noticed my problems easing up. Then my brother gave me a pair of Vibram 5 Fingers and I started running everywhere barefoot. I then tossed the shoes completely and have been running shoeless ever since, without a trace of PF or knee or back pain!