If one more person asks me about barefoot running because of all the media attention the topic received lately, I am going to throw a tantrum. I am absolutely serious. Its not ground breaking news people… and I’m getting a bit sick of hearing about it like its a new concept.
We started running barefoot on sand dunes when I was 14. That was 14 years ago… and I suspect that wasn’t a new thing at all back then either. The main reason was for strength development. To a bunch of 14-16 year old kids, the barefoot part was because it was more fun… It was all about having fun and running fast!
I think that too many people run in shoes that have excessive support. I think most people have allowed their feet to become weak and lazy. I think a lot of people have pretty bad posture when they run. Does all of this point towards running barefoot? Not necessarily… There are many pieces to this puzzle and you need to look at the whole picture and consider individual variability/circumstances before you jump on the barefoot running bandwagon because of some recent media hype and a recently published book (which is, I would admit, a well written one… something that may add to the danger of everyone jumping into something they may or may not be able to handle).
There are so many factors that come into play… you can’t read an article as take it as is. Be critical. Think. Ask for help. I didn’t think I would have to say this again so soon, but here goes: IT DEPENDS…
4 responses so far ↓
Tyler Duncan // February 4, 2010 at 10:55 pm |
New trend, Barefoot biking!! we'll glue the cleats to our feet!
nadia // February 10, 2010 at 6:40 am |
in the Rome Olympics Abebe won the marathon while running barefooted. It was in 1960. Well before that I was told that it is good to walk barefooted in the sand for my flat feet.
腰痠 // February 20, 2010 at 10:02 pm |
被人揭下面具是一種失敗，自己揭下面具卻是種勝利。..................................................
Timetraveler // February 22, 2010 at 10:27 am |
If this is not news to you, and you are not even 30 yet, (14+14-28?), think what those of us who remember the 1960s and 1970s think. Walking barefoot everywhere for kids and young people was rather ordinary. It was in style for a while, and apparently unknown to most young people today, in out shoe obsessed world. It was just obvious that if you start going for short barefoot walks around your neighborhood early in the spring, that by summer you could walk – and run – on anything, the hottest pavement and sharp objects. This is not news at all, and I am also sick and tired of idiotic journalists who do not know even about the recent past presenting this as if it was a ‘new’ thing., without even giving a historical reference about it.
And Tyler Duncan, barefoot bike riding was an ordinary, common thing during the 1960s and 1970s, in any ordinary town in the
US, and still is to a lesser extent in beach towns along the east coast, with a wide range of ages doing it. And when skateboarding was invented in the early 1960s, it was also done barefoot by most kids.