In Support of the Running Shoe
In the last few years that most simple of sports, running, has been overcome by a plague of complication, or 'accessories.' From a pair of plimsolls, a vest and a tight pair of shorts, a company such as Nike will now market over a hundred different products to the wannabee athlete in order that they may successfully perform the task of placing one foot in front of the other at speed. At any amateur running event I see them, supping on their specialist water bottles, sticking on their energy patches, programming their I-Pod playlist and making the kid with the Puma T-shirt feel bad. However, a recent movement has told us that enough is enough, that runners are becoming hampered with an over-reliance on technology and that we all should cast our synthetics into the primeval fire, beginning with our trainers.
Yes, according to the current trendy attitude, we must seek to go back to nature and run in bare feet. I'm sure you've been told it already by some know-it-all down the pub, possibly the same person who told you that running was going to damage you knees, but for those as yet blissfully ignorant of this new world order, here's the creed.
You've been conditioned to think of your feet as inadequate. Mainstream athletic footwear companies want you to believe you are unfit to run without engineered solutions they call "performance running shoes." It's time you knew the truth. (Barefootrunner.co.uk)
The shoe got in the way of evolution," Galahad says. "It's like a little coffin that stops the foot from working the way it's supposed to." (Galahad Clark - designer of the Vivo Barefoot)
Is any running-shoe company prepared to claim that wearing their distance running shoes will decrease your risk of suffering musculoskeletal running injuries? Is any shoe manufacturer prepared to claim that wearing their running shoes will improve your distance running performance? If you are prepared to make these claims, where is your peer-reviewed data to back it up? (Craig Richard in The British medical Journal)
The support has come from research by various universities worldwide, which have concluded that running without shoes utilises the natural arch of the foot to provide you with the most efficient landing when running, and a greater power in 'springing' back up again. Running shoes compromise this by encouraging us to land on the heel, the 'shock' which causes various ailments to the ankles, tendons and shins, and which they seek to cushion through their various means.
So to that effect, running shoes are bad - they cause us to run badly, they make our legs weak, they cost a lot of money and they make us slaves to corporations. Look at the barefoot runners, look at how happy they are and how much better they feel about themselves, and how they don't care that people laugh at them!
So what of the poor running shoe? What is to become of those humble Asics that I keep with pride on the top of my shoe rack, ready for the next race? Were they a mistake of evolution? Are they really coffins to our potential?
The first way I want to consider this is from my own definition of running - as a sport and the first key question for barefoot runners to answer. Does running in barefoot make you go faster? That is the goal of competitive running after all, nothing else. As a sport, running is all about speed, and for the proper runner, that is all that is important. If it makes me quicker, and its legal, then I'll have it. Why is it that no world records are currently held by barefoot runners?
The answer is a simple one, but one that Newtonian physics might have problems recognising in its method. Running races are very unscientific, are the fact that running in barefoot may cause you to use a modicum less amount of energy does not tell the whole story. Let's first try some simple points.
Much of running takes places on grass and mud. To run efficiently on these you require spikes. This is what all long distance runners do in the winter season. That is how the sport of running works.
Track running takes place around an oval track. The grip of trainers helps you to run round corners.
Runners who wear shoes (and spikes) can tread on your feet and the start of a running race is a crowded place.
Roads tend to be wet, have glass, oil, dogshit, nails, and countless other obstacles on them.
Sprinting requires spikes for acceleration.
You can go on and on. The point I am trying to make is that running is not as simple as a stride on a treadmill. Running is a complicated sport and I cannot think of any race I have ever running where running in barefeet would seem like a better, safer option. The barefoot runner telling me this seems to be like the world keepy-uppy champion telling Leo Messi how to play football. It just isn't the same thing. Fine, if the world was the same it was when caveman ran to hunt buffalo, then not wearing shoes might make sense, but it isn't. We must adapt, similar to how we have to the sport of running. That is why most runners will have some form of cushioning because it makes life easier and less injury prone as a modern evolved runner.
And I am entirely ignoring the opinions 'barefoot technology' here, because if the whole point of advocating barefoot running is that we should ultimately run in barefeet rather than trainers, so sitting somewhere in the middle strikes me as being rather on the fence.
So perhaps we could argue that barefoot running can help the person who runs purely for leisure, who has no interest is competing. I've got to admit, almost every runner I know is training for something, but I'll concede that maybe these people exist. Maybe running barefoot could be good for them? After all its benefits are:
Less injury
More efficient running style
Greater power in the feet and calves
But hold on, are these really the kind of benefits the leisure runner is interested in? If they get up and run a few miles every other morning, are they really going to be concerned with their nice, warm, comfortable, extra-cushioned Adidas giving them plantar fasciitis? When they run around their suburban streets in the later November frost, is it honestly a practical assertion to tell them to take their shoes off, or might this put them off running altogether?
No, to me Barefoot Runners are non-athletes trying to prove a point which has no practical application in the world they are advocating to. Fine, go barefoot, have barefoot races on barefoot courses, but accept that it is different to modern running as we know it, and don't look down at me when I sprint past is my new pair of Nike Air track spikes. I promise not to laugh at you.
Yes, according to the current trendy attitude, we must seek to go back to nature and run in bare feet. I'm sure you've been told it already by some know-it-all down the pub, possibly the same person who told you that running was going to damage you knees, but for those as yet blissfully ignorant of this new world order, here's the creed.
You've been conditioned to think of your feet as inadequate. Mainstream athletic footwear companies want you to believe you are unfit to run without engineered solutions they call "performance running shoes." It's time you knew the truth. (Barefootrunner.co.uk)
The shoe got in the way of evolution," Galahad says. "It's like a little coffin that stops the foot from working the way it's supposed to." (Galahad Clark - designer of the Vivo Barefoot)
Is any running-shoe company prepared to claim that wearing their distance running shoes will decrease your risk of suffering musculoskeletal running injuries? Is any shoe manufacturer prepared to claim that wearing their running shoes will improve your distance running performance? If you are prepared to make these claims, where is your peer-reviewed data to back it up? (Craig Richard in The British medical Journal)
The support has come from research by various universities worldwide, which have concluded that running without shoes utilises the natural arch of the foot to provide you with the most efficient landing when running, and a greater power in 'springing' back up again. Running shoes compromise this by encouraging us to land on the heel, the 'shock' which causes various ailments to the ankles, tendons and shins, and which they seek to cushion through their various means.
So to that effect, running shoes are bad - they cause us to run badly, they make our legs weak, they cost a lot of money and they make us slaves to corporations. Look at the barefoot runners, look at how happy they are and how much better they feel about themselves, and how they don't care that people laugh at them!
So what of the poor running shoe? What is to become of those humble Asics that I keep with pride on the top of my shoe rack, ready for the next race? Were they a mistake of evolution? Are they really coffins to our potential?
The first way I want to consider this is from my own definition of running - as a sport and the first key question for barefoot runners to answer. Does running in barefoot make you go faster? That is the goal of competitive running after all, nothing else. As a sport, running is all about speed, and for the proper runner, that is all that is important. If it makes me quicker, and its legal, then I'll have it. Why is it that no world records are currently held by barefoot runners?
The answer is a simple one, but one that Newtonian physics might have problems recognising in its method. Running races are very unscientific, are the fact that running in barefoot may cause you to use a modicum less amount of energy does not tell the whole story. Let's first try some simple points.
Much of running takes places on grass and mud. To run efficiently on these you require spikes. This is what all long distance runners do in the winter season. That is how the sport of running works.
Track running takes place around an oval track. The grip of trainers helps you to run round corners.
Runners who wear shoes (and spikes) can tread on your feet and the start of a running race is a crowded place.
Roads tend to be wet, have glass, oil, dogshit, nails, and countless other obstacles on them.
Sprinting requires spikes for acceleration.
You can go on and on. The point I am trying to make is that running is not as simple as a stride on a treadmill. Running is a complicated sport and I cannot think of any race I have ever running where running in barefeet would seem like a better, safer option. The barefoot runner telling me this seems to be like the world keepy-uppy champion telling Leo Messi how to play football. It just isn't the same thing. Fine, if the world was the same it was when caveman ran to hunt buffalo, then not wearing shoes might make sense, but it isn't. We must adapt, similar to how we have to the sport of running. That is why most runners will have some form of cushioning because it makes life easier and less injury prone as a modern evolved runner.
And I am entirely ignoring the opinions 'barefoot technology' here, because if the whole point of advocating barefoot running is that we should ultimately run in barefeet rather than trainers, so sitting somewhere in the middle strikes me as being rather on the fence.
So perhaps we could argue that barefoot running can help the person who runs purely for leisure, who has no interest is competing. I've got to admit, almost every runner I know is training for something, but I'll concede that maybe these people exist. Maybe running barefoot could be good for them? After all its benefits are:
Less injury
More efficient running style
Greater power in the feet and calves
But hold on, are these really the kind of benefits the leisure runner is interested in? If they get up and run a few miles every other morning, are they really going to be concerned with their nice, warm, comfortable, extra-cushioned Adidas giving them plantar fasciitis? When they run around their suburban streets in the later November frost, is it honestly a practical assertion to tell them to take their shoes off, or might this put them off running altogether?
No, to me Barefoot Runners are non-athletes trying to prove a point which has no practical application in the world they are advocating to. Fine, go barefoot, have barefoot races on barefoot courses, but accept that it is different to modern running as we know it, and don't look down at me when I sprint past is my new pair of Nike Air track spikes. I promise not to laugh at you.
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