Free the Feet!....October 2009

Free the Feet


At the dawn of man, Cro-Magnon and Homo Sapiens stood together at a cross road. Cro-Magnon, the larger and stronger went left while our ancestors took the road less traveled, as Robert Frost would say. Within 100,000 years Cro-Magnon Man disappeared. Why? Because we were born to run.

Our ability to run great distances made us hunters of attrition. We couldn’t overpower our prey as did Cro-Magnon, nor could we out-sprint them, but we could outlast them! When the antelope dropped to his knees with fatigue, we were there to take the prize.

As we runners evolved, our need to chase prey may have diminished, but our innate desire to run for a “prize” has not. Now we run for sport, not for food, and our prize is setting a PR (personal record) for a given distance.

In our pursuit of PR’s, we have sought the help of running shoe design and research engineers to develop new shoes that will help us run faster. It’s not hard to spend more than $150 on these engineering marvels. But there are a growing number of runners who believe we may have gone too far.

In last month’s article, I reviewed the must read book, “Born to Run”, in which Chris McDougal studies the amazing runners of the Tarahumara tribe from Mexico’s Copper Canyon. Wearing little more than thin leather sandals, they run incredible distances day after day well into old age without incurring the injuries that we well shod runners suffer. McDougal’s conclusion is that well cushioned shoes are more likely to cause running injuries than prevent them.

Intrigued, I set out to personally test the theory that less is more.

Abandoning everything that I have been told about proper training shoes in the past 34 years, I bought a pair of Vibram Five Finger KSO’s. These strange shoes look like a glove for feet with individual “fingers” for each toe. The sole is no more than a thin layer of flexible vibram outsole material – hardly the typical design for a running shoe.

I found the minimalist design incredibly comfortable from the moment I put them on. It was like walking barefoot, but the real test was taking them out for a run.

Amazingly, they proved to be extraordinarily comfortable. The lack of heel cushioning was not a problem as I realized that my footfall naturally became more of a mid-foot strike. Each step was well cushioned by the foot’s own internal shock absorbing structure. That is the intriguing part of this approach. Less shock with less shoe cushioning, means fewer injuries.

I have since run on roads, trails, and the track on a cruise ship. Not only have I enjoyed every run, but these funny shoes are a real conversation starter!

I have done a bit of research on the concept of barefoot running and have learned that there is quite a large movement of runners who have found the surprising benefits of no, or nearly no, running shoes.

A word of caution. Should you decide to test the bare foot approach, get the Vibram Five Finger shoes. Our tender feet simply aren’t tough enough to take on pavement. Take it slowly; it takes some time for the muscles that have been underutilized to be reawakened.

For those who find the concept interesting, but the leap to Five Fingers too far, consider training in racing shoes. There is more cushioning but without the additional structure that accompanies the standard training shoe.

Of course, every runner has to find what works best. But there is one thing that is certain – we were born to run. The saying at the Dipsea Ultra Marathon is “You don’t stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running”.

It’s fall, the very best season to run. Whether you lace up running shoes or not, get out there and run!