Barefoot Runner – Running Barefoot, Natural Running & Healthy Living

MacDougall explains. “The foot is the greatest disciplinarian. You can’t over-pronate, can’t over-train, can’t over-stride … if you do anything wrong, the foot will tell you `uh uh, don’t do that’. Shoes are like morphine: a sedative that deadens the pain.”

I couldn’t resist to expose these ‘Pogo-stick meets high-heel’ shoes. Z-Coil states that their shoes incorporate “patented, shock-absorbing design greatly reduces impact to the body and distributes pressure more evenly across the foot than conventional shoes do. And less impact means less pain.” These things are totally ridiculous and dangerous to boot. Does the company [...]

Original post on RailRiders.com/blog. Republished with author’s permission.
A very insightful post that captures the history and future of running footwear. Hope you like it. Happy trails, David.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I stare at runners. I do. I can’t help looking at nearly every runner that I see. Driving to work in the morning I’ll find myself slowing down just enough to catch a few strides of a morning runner. It amazes me how dramatically running shoes alter, err… break, something as primitive and hard-wired within us as running.

Low/flat arches, high arches, normal/neutral arches. You’ve heard these terms, and like many, probably look to athletic shoes manufacturers (and running magazines) to point you in the right direction. To cure the handicap you seemingly poses. But do you? I personally have somewhat low/flat arches. Yet, I’ve been running injury free for nearly 7 years [...]

Running without shoes has inherent risks. Depending on where you live, your running route may have all sorts of little annoyances like broken glass, sticks, stones, icy roads or even nasty bugs.

With 1,200+ kms (745+ miles) in the first 8 months of 2002, it was shaping to be a good running year. I just completed a 1/2 marathon in 1:35 on a cold