I’ve been looking into the whole barefoot running thing and found this little clip of Christopher McDougall on CNN. McDougall is the author of Born To Run, so it was really cool to both hear him speaking about running and to see him running barefoot in the park.
McDougall does actually say in the video that “shoes are the devil.”
Like him, I used to think that just buying something else would fix my problems, only to discover every new thing that I added would break something else. I’m convinced that orthotics, braces and other kinds of supports just make your muscles/joints weaker since they make the muscles dependent on the device to function properly.
On that note, I think that for tomorrow’s run out in Purgatory Creek Park, I’m going to go barefoot for a bit and see how I like it. The recommendation is no more than 5 minutes the first time out. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.
Do yourself a huge a huge favor and read his book. Going barefoot has changed my life.
I ran barefoot yesterday for the first time. Only about 5 minutes, which I read is what they recommend for your first barefoot run. It was amazing.
Great post. Hadn’t seen that interview. Thanks for sharing.
After being plagued with hip/knee injuries for years, I started running barefoot a month ago. CHANGED MY LIFE. I feel great and am loving it for the first time in years. I\’m doing minimal running…(10-15 min. total) making sure my form is good and lots of core and foot strength work to hold it all together. Other than sore calves (normal) I\’ve had no issues. If you haven\’t read Born to Run, it\’s great. Also check out Eric Orten and Chris\’ website. More good stuff.
Hi Denise,
Thank you for your comment! It’s amazing how much better I feel. I still feel like I should get some minimalist shoes, just because of my fear of stepping on a shard of glass. I’m reading Born to Run right now. It’s a great book!
Cheers,
Rafael