If you’re about to launch a major expedition, Joseph Michael Kai-Tsu Liu Roqueni, a Canadian attempting to run barefootfrom Montreal to Argentina, has this advice: Don’t try something new before you set off.

“I played basketball barefoot for the first time before I left and got huge blisters,” says Liu Roqueni, 32, by phone from a hotel in Burlington, Vermont.

As a result, the former cross country runner has spent the first week of his two-year, 11,800-mile, trans-America journey alternating between running barefoot and wearing huaraches, the sandals the Tarahumara Indians, ultrarunners featured in the best-selling book Born To Run, wear.

But two days ago, Liu Roqueni gave in and put on his Crocs. (He isn’t carrying traditional running shoes.)

Sore feet aren’t the only dose of reality the 32-year-old has encountered during his first 115 miles. Liu Roqueni set off from Montreal on July 2 with a loaded backpack, intent on camping most nights. His route includes long stretches on the Appalachian Trail, a hiking path between Maine and Georgia, and the Qhapaq Ñan (Inca) Trail, which traverses Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Camping made both logistical and financial sense.

His first night out, Liu Roqueni climbed into his sleeping bag sweaty from 30 miles in the heat, and passed a fitful night. “It was stinky, uncomfortable, horrible,” he says. “I hadn’t really thought about what it would be like not to shower. But I’m mentally open to anything. I mean, this is the journey.”

The idea to head out on a very long run came as Liu Roqueni was about to graduate from Concordia University with a degree in industrial engineering. Faced with the prospect of a 9-to-5 existence—“which kinda sounded depressing,” he says—he began exploring alternatives.

Liu Roqueni toyed with the idea of driving or biking cross country, but didn’t have a car or a bike, so he settled on running. Tackling the route barefoot was a natural extension of his current fitness routine—he started barefoot running two years ago to manage injury—and a strive toward simplicity; approaching the expedition without shoes meant he wouldn’t have to worry about replacing them.

But he also wanted the expedition to be his own. "I wanted to do it in a different way, a way no one has," he says. "And as a society, we used to travel by foot, so this is a return."

To condition his feet, Liu Roqueni trained on as many surfaces as possible, logging 100-mile weeks during peak training on grass, concrete, asphalt, mud and snow, which he expects to encounter in the Andes.

He is more worried about the desert climates of Texas and Chile than the mountains of South America, though, not because surface temperatures could singe his soles, but because water could be scarce. “I’ve never been so thirsty in my life,” says Liu Roqueni, who has been running his daily 30-mile average in mostly hot temperatures.

Despite having worn his huaraches frequently, Liu Roqueni says there are no conditions that automatically qualify as sandal days.

"Some days my feet feel nothing and I can run through everything. Then I run on smoothest surface and it hurts," he says. "It's like the body. You wake up one day and feel great, another day you don’t, same with feet."

Liu Roqueni, who was born in Canada to Chinese and Mexican parents and raised in Guadalajara, is running for the personal challenge, but he hopes his efforts will also raise money for education.

“If we address poverty and hunger by giving people money and food, it does not solve the problem,” he says. “With education, we can come up with better solutions that may help these social issues.” He's currently partnered with a few charities in the 14 countries he'll run through, and is reaching out to more.

Liu Roqueni took the last two days off, a practice he intends to continue to stave off injury and burnout. The rest days also afford him time to talk to media, which he hopes will encourage sponsorship. "I’m going to run out of money in a few months," he says, with a quick thanks to the hotels that have extended him a free welcome.

As long as his blisters were reasonably healed, Liu Roqueni planned to stuff his tent, sleeping bag, Crocs and sandals back into his 30-liter bag this morning, and resume his journey south, barefoot.

michelle hamilton wordpress import

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io