Dartblog

Here’s a prediction for you: in five years all Dartmouth teams will be training barefoot, including (and especially) distance runners — and so will recreational runners. At most, they will be wearing lightweight Vibram slippers with no special cushioning.

While I haven’t seen anyone running barefoot in Hanover during the winter, other than my wife, this innovation is acquiring the characteristics of a movement (it is well past the cult stage).

Ken Bob Saxton seems to be the guru of barefoot running; his web page maintains that he has been advancing the cause since 1997. Christopher MacDougall’s book popularized the idea. Academic research has provided solid experimental support. And on-the-ground experience has been so positive that the word is spreading via groups like the Metro Boston Barefoot Runners Group. In addition, the New York Times has done a good job covering the development of barefoot running.

The core observation driving barefoot running is that we are not built to slam our heels down on the ground with massive force each time that we take a stride. This gesture — even when softened by fat-heeled running shoes — sends a debilitating shock though our bodies. Fortunately, the elaborate bone and muscle structure of our feet and legs is designed to absorb the impact of running in a flexible, spring-like manner, as long as our feet land in a balanced, weight-on-the-balls-of-the-feet-and-mid-arch fashion — which is virtually impossible in post-1970’s running shoes.

I’ve been running barefoot indoors for about a month now, and the new springiness in my feet is something quite unexpected. Too many people have out-of-shape feet, no matter how fit they are muscularly and cardio-vascularly. In addition, my overall flexibillty seems to have improved; I used to call running The Anti-Stretch. No more.

Could it be that the human race’s 40-year experiment in radically altering the way that people run is coming to an end?

Warning: Don’t try this at home without reading up on the subject first.

Addendum: Here is a great hi-res video on barefoot running with the Harvard researcher, Daniel Lieberman, who has studied the subject in the greatest depth.