I'll rephrase that initial question: why not barefoot running? There are quite a few negative assumptions that our society unwittingly accepts when considering going out the door with nothing on your feet - assumptions like:
-It hurts!
-I'll step on something sharp, like broken glass or a used syringe or a prickly pear cactus!
-I'll pick up some kind of deadly foot-boring parasite!
-Isn't it....yucky.....to be barefoot?
-Don't I need proper shoes to walk/run? What about support?
Okay, first and foremost - running barefoot does NOT hurt! I will add a disclaimer, however - just as when you come out of a dark movie theater into brilliant midday sunshine you are blinded, so when you first try to take off your shoes and hit the road, your feet will be overwhelmed with sensory feedback. Feet have as many or more nerve endings per area as any other place of the body (there's a reason for this! more later....) and our feet are usually confined in padded cells (shoes) for most of our days. When we take those padded cells off, we're often strolling around on plush carpet, smooth tile, or soft sand. All uniform, uninteresting surfaces, and our feet get accustomed to being quite passive when it comes to feeling the ground. Enter some wet leaves, gravel, and rough chip-seal, and suddenly our feet start yelling "Too much! Not quiet and comfortable!" But they adapt. It may take a week or two of walking around outside for your feet to no longer yell at you. During this time, too, your soles will get tougher - not callused, not rough, just stronger and more resilient and leathery. Pretty soon you can start running - easy at first, but eventually the toughest mountain trails can be tackled with aplomb.
As for stepping on stuff - um, you can always WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! You'd be surprised how few used syringes there are out there (unless you live in Jersey). Broken glass is also quite avoidable, and even if you step on it from time to time it often doesn't cause any trouble.
Parasites - who told you this? Where'd we get the idea that the ground is just crawling with unclean, flesh-eating little invaders? Just a generation ago, it was perfectly normal for kids to spend their whole childhoods running around barefoot. Perhaps the best advice I can give for avoiding parasites is this: don't step in any infected elephant dung. If you see a pile, avoid it. Don't step in it. Also, avoid locker room floors - people who sweat a lot in their shoes are among the worst offenders as breeding grounds for foot parasites (athlete's foot, etc.). When you kick the shoes off, these parasites don't stand a chance as they don't like sunlight or non-damp environments.
As to the "yuck" factor: feet stink when they're stuck in sweaty shoes. They stink because all kinds of nasty flora love the environment that shoes create - again: warm, damp and dark. Lose the shoes as often as possible, and these critters DIE!!
Here's an interesting link regarding state health codes:
No state health departments have reason to prohibit going barefoot in public places, as research has demonstrated time and time again that bare feet are almost unanimously healthier than shod. I'd recommend the rest of that site, too, for any inquiries:
Now to the question of wearing "proper" footwear. Who, may I ask, defines "proper"? Is it, perhaps, the American Podiatric Medical Association, an organization that represents 80% of American podiatrists and is well-funded by (guess who) the shoe industry? Is it the shoe makers themselves, who bombard us with advertisements and propaganda defining what a "running" shoe, "hiking" shoe, "walking" shoe is? Uh - oh, I'm starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist. Let's start over.
Several decades ago, what may have been called a "running shoe" was little more than a leather moccasin. Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4:00 mile in shoes like these. All the great runners ran in these, or less: Abebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic Marathon barefoot. These runners also held in common their running form: they all landed on their forefoot.
It was only a few years later that renowned track coach Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon, began producing his own running shoes under the label "Blue Ribbon Sports", later changed to "Nike". Bowerman (having limited physiological knowledge himself) began wondering: How can we help athletes run more efficiently and therefore faster? Either they have to take more steps per minute (faster leg rate) or take longer strides. More steps per minute isn't really feasible, but in order to stride longer you could...land on your heels.
He famously perfected his shoe design using his wife's waffle iron to melt rubber for the sole, and designed this shoe around the concept of heel-striking, rather than forefoot landing. This required quite a bit of cushioning, especially under the heel. The shoes were well-marketed (thanks to Phil Knight), Bowerman wrote a book (Jogging) and the fitness craze was born. And injury rates EXPLODED.
Nowadays you can buy awesomely cool-looking, super cushioned, and super expensive shoes like THIS:
And yet... There has been no (that's zero, not one!) scientific study in the years that we've had these comfy, cushioned shoes that demonstrates that they reduce injury. In fact, some studies hold that 80% of today's runners acquire a running injury in the course of a year. 80%! Some studies have even suggested that more expensive shoes tend to lead to higher injury rates! How is that possible? (for more on these concepts, I highly recommend the book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall.)
My belief is that we are designed to run - that our feet, ankles, knees, legs are built to do all the running we ask of them - without shoes. God didn't say "Um, sorry, I screwed up here - you need some motion-control shoes before you can run anywhere, otherwise you'll get hurt." He gave us all those nerve endings in our feet for a reason - so we can feel the ground, feel tiny variations in terrain, grip, angles, etc., and adjust. People have asked me "What about arch support??" and I say "I use my arches!". Even an amateur architect knows that an arch is a fundamentally strong shape - try to brace it from underneath and you weaken the whole structure. Watch a toddler running barefoot - easy, light, fun! Now scope out your average, well-shod jogger - you'll probably hear them before you see them, "clomp clomp clomp". They usually wear a grimace. It looks like no fun at all. And, according to the statistics, they are 4 times more likely than not to be injured by running at some point this year. Ouch!
I have found that running barefoot has improved my balance greatly, has made my feet and ankles MUCH stronger, and has multiplied my enjoyment of running. There's nothing like running up a mountain barefoot to greet the sunrise at the top! I don't have to buy new and expensive shoes every few months. My feet won't wear out! And I'm able to enjoy in a pure, childlike way, the thrill of racing along shoeless wherever I want to go. It's awesome!
Some links:
A GREAT, very informative website, especially for beginners!
Minimalist Runner Google group - a forum for conversations about all things minimalist/barefoot running.
Jason Robillard's site - Jason has run many races (including ultramarathons) barefoot.
And now.... for your viewing pleasure.... I give you "Barefoot Steve":
1 comment:
This is great! Informative, well-written and just fun to read!! Looking forward to more posts!
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