Born to run and not be weary?

John here:  Recently I've been studying the phenomenon of barefoot running as well as the use of what are called "minimalist" running shoes ("minimalist" refers to a shoe that has a minimal, or "zero drop," difference between the thickness of the shoe at the toes and the thickness at the heel).  In a roundabout way, I was introduced to this idea by Nathan Smith, who operates a website called www.inbetweenmytoes.com .  As part of the physics 30 course I am teaching this semester, I invited Nathan to come speak to my students about his experience and research associated with barefoot running.  To illustrate the differences, he videoed me running on a treadmill with typical running shoes and then again in barefeet.  Aside from my ramblings about physics terminology, the video is excellent in showing the distinct differences between how the foot strikes the ground, and most interestingly,  how different my posture is while running barefoot.  See the video below.

The very same day that Nathan presented this to my class, I found a TED talk by Christopher McDougall, who has written a book called Born to Run ( http://borntorun.org/ ).  

The link to the TED talk is here:

 http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run.html

A brief interview by a New York Times reporter and Christopher McDougall:

In case you're still not convinced, try this clip by Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman:

In short, I am overly convinced that running barefoot, or at least running with shoes that have thin soles and wide toe boxes, is the best way to ensure good posture and strong joints.  I've already encountered numerous stories of runners whose chronic running injuries went away when they stopped using conventional running shoes and either ran barefoot or with minimalist shoes like the ones posted below.  This year, Merrell is making a shoe in a trail and casual version called the "Trail Glove" (below in blue/grey)  and the "Tough Glove" (brown leather).  Vibram has their five-finger line which arguably began the revolution of minimalist shoes.  Check out their websites if you are at all interested.

Let me just say to all the RAGNAR folks out there, as well as any other avid runners, that if you've been suffering from chronic injuries due to running, you really need to take what I've mentioned here seriously.  Believe me that I will not be buying a pair of typical running shoes again.  Happy trails!