Ok I admit to hearing this from Mike back in March, and didn't give it much thought. The shoes seemed ridiculous inapproriate for distance running and the people at a Charleston, SC shoe store were apparently as ignorant to the information as I was. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, there is a fairly recent article in the NY Times about the benefit of running barefoot (or nearly so).
The thrust of the article is this: running on mid and fore foot puts the constant pounding evenly distributed throughout your leg. It has been well documented for many years that "heavy steppers" with poor cushioning in the heel were most prone to back, leg, and feet problems from years of running. It looks like barefoot runners, in addition to having greater foot strength, have fewer back and knee problems. The article further discusses one long time runner and his career ending chronic back and knee problems who trained with a tribe of runners south of the border some fifteen years ago. He has been running since without any problems.
I won't regurgitate the entire article, but it is referenced in the title of this and highly reccommend it.
Monday, July 11, 2005
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