Barefoot Boy, with Cheek of Tan

editorial Barefoot Boy, With Cheek of Tan Lately, the hysteria surround- with features the average foot ing running barefoot has been does not need, can contribute reaching decibels usually as- to eliciting the exact opposite sociated with a Shuttle launch. outcome anticipated, meaning Everywhere we turn there are more injuries. lectures being given on barefoot Rich Englehart railed against running and articles cropping up overengineered running shoes that require the cutting down of whole in these pages more than a decade ago, forests of trees to make wood pulp for instead championing training in what paper. The phenomenon is also spilling amounted to racing flats—the bare mini- over into the world of regular-walking- mum of foot covering a runner could get around-type folks, who are inquiring, away with. The kind of running shoes “What’s with all this barefoot stuff, (like the Tiger Cortez and the Nike anyway? Is it a promotion for taking a Waffle Trainer) that were revolution- vacation at a beach resort?” ary in the 1970s when training shoes The craziness began, of course, for long-distance runners were first when some journalists looked past introduced. Before science and market- the dramatic story of the race Caballo ing became involved, requiring twice a Blanco (the White Horse) was putting year that new models feature space-age together between some Tarahumara gobbledygook improvements that had runners and a small contingent of An- little if anything to do with running. glo ultrarunners as described in Chris These changes addressed very little that McDougall’s excellent bestseller Born was actually going on with the human to Run and glommed onto chapter 25, foot in the process of running, but they where Chris discussed barefoot and made good ad copy and impressed the minimalist running. The chapter made novice runner with the obscene comfort a convincing case that overengineered he or she felt when slipping on the new- running shoes potentially were a cause est model. “I feel like I’m standing on a of runner injuries—evil big-profit- cloud,” the new runners would enthuse. running-shoe villains versus the naive “I can’t feel the earth,” the grizzled vets little guy, perfect fodder for an expose. would complain. And there is a case to be made that an McDougall’s chapter went into all overengineered running shoe, replete of this and did a good job of putting it 8 l MARATHON & BEYOND l Sept/Oct 2011 into perspective. And the subsequent in repressive societies. How women controversies stirred up by journalists managed to balance safely on some of who interviewed him on this subject did those shoes has always been a matter nothing to stifle the sales of the book. In of astonishment and a feat of human fact, they sent it into overdrive, which gymnastics comparable to walking a we hope provided readers with an op- slack rope across the Grand Canyon. portunity to wallow in the terrifically When fashion demanded high heels, told story of the ultimate race that is at podiatrists began looking at buying the book’s heart. vacation homes with the profits gleaned Its sole? Well, that became confus- from treating shortened Achilles ten- ing, for several reasons. dons. And forget the honest podiatrist One, there has long been a small prescribing that the Achilles problems contingent of people who run around caused when a woman stepped off the on bare feet—besides the Kenyan kids high heels might be alleviated by wear- going back and forth to school, that ing shorter heels: What was he going is. The barefoot folks grabbed hold of to suggest next, “sensible shoes” like the controversy and ran with it. They Doc Martens? Outrage. were suddenly in the forefront of stories Many of the problems—and confu- about running and about running shoes. sions—came when the barefoot proph- They were writing articles about the ets took the audacious step of bringing benefits of running in bare feet, they in the poor Tarahumara Indians of Cop- were writing entire books on the subject, per Canyon, Mexico, some of the best and they were being thrust onto the very-long-distance runners in the world. local news, slapping the skin of their Because McDougall discussed the Tara- soles and heels against the asphalt in humara in his book in the same chapter low-angle camera shots. that he discussed barefoot running and And, to a certain degree, they made the overengineering of running shoes, some valid points. the barefoot crowd tried to incorporate We human animals are overshod. the Tarahumara into their campaign. Males are encased in hard, unyielding The fact that was conveniently formal shoes that pinch the feet and overlooked was that the Tarahumara cause discomfort, or they are in highly don’t run barefoot. They go to the pseudosophisticated sports shoes that junkyard, retrieve a discarded Michelin essentially negate the function of the 165-SR-15 two-ply steel-belted radial foot. On the ladies’ side, let’s face it, tire, cut it up, and make huaraches however much they have lusted after (crude sandals) out of it. In some ways, shoes—and the more the better—the the Tarahumara were far in advance of shoes they wore for fashion would the major shoe companies in that they have been castigated by Amnesty were using beautifully advanced tech- International if they were forced to nologies developed over a century of wear them as a form of punishment research by the major automobile tire Sept/Oct 2011 l EDItorIAL l 9 manufacturers to shod the Porsches, we can’t expect to make the changeover BMWs, and Mercedes that sped down instantly. A lot of the bushings in the the German autobahn. car’s suspension have dried out over the Chris McDougall made the distinc- years, and they are ready to give out if tion between barefoot and minimalist. In we overtax them. The same with feet that fact, when we went to an appearance he have been shod in heavily reinforced made in Northern California, he arrived running shoes for years. wearing—and touting—the gorilla-foot- The admonition to walk before you like Vibram Five Fingers. More like a run is a good one if you are making the foot glove than a shoe, the odd-looking attempt to minimize running footwear. footwear was gracing McDougall’s feet Keep in mind that the older we are, the that night, and he expounded on how go- more stiff and dried out are the tendons ing minimalist had recovered his running and connecting tissue in the foot and from the depths of chronic injuries. He ankle, and hence, the more lengthy a was espousing Rich Englehart’s decades- break-in time we will need. old plea that “less is more,” touting the In the matter of strictly barefoot age-old wisdom of the Tarahumara, and running, the cautions need to be even taking a swipe at the major running-shoe more stringent. And this comes from a companies. He acknowledged that some guy who doesn’t wear shoes indoors, of the shoe companies had, within the not because of a dedication to all things last few years, begun manufacturing Oriental but simply because it feels and promoting lighter, more basic shoe better, and it’s a habit I borrowed from models. But he also said it was an uphill my mother, who, ever since I’ve known battle because the shoe companies had her, kicked her shoes off as soon as she for years put so much advertising and crossed the threshold. marketing into maximizing shoe features The world we live in today was not that to undo all of that in a few years was built for barefoot running. In fact, much virtually impossible. of the world from the time it was made Running in minimal footwear makes wasn’t built for barefoot running. Roman a great deal of sense, but it isn’t some- centurions didn’t wear sandals because thing a long-term runner can change they were fashionable. Mummies buried to overnight. The bones, muscles, and in Egyptian tombs didn’t have footwear tendons in the foot are built to serve as buried with them because they foreshad- an energy-absorbing biological wonder owed Imelda Marcos. Even Jesus wore when we thrust ourselves forward in an footwear (which Mary Magdalene was attempt to move efficiently through our happy to remove before washing his feet world. The foot and ankle and Achilles with her hair), because the road was not tendon are built to absorb the shock of always paved with rose petals. a landing with several times our body’s Much of the earth was formed by weight behind it. But like the suspension violent upheavals from within that of a car that has not been maintained, twisted and stressed the layers of rock 10 l MARATHON & BEYOND l Sept/Oct 2011 ad into grotesque, painful, sharp-edged your feet looking for a new home. Even outcroppings. Hit one of those exposed running on beach sand for an extended rocks on a mountain trail the wrong way period of time can take its toll on the while you are running barefoot, and your Achilles tendon. running days are over. Encounter a lava In all things, common sense should bed while running barefoot, and there prevail. Think through the trend you aren’t enough Band-Aids in the world want to embrace before taking the to staunch the bleeding. Run barefoot plunge. And if you decide to take the through the grass in a park and encounter plunge, do so gradually.

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