Born To Run

The winter wasn't easy. It still hurt to walk, but I oddly observed that the boots I was using to traipse my way down the snowy sidewalks to work were killing me, while the old battered brown shoes I put on when I arrived didn't cause me nearly so much trouble.

 
I knew that I was in no condition to be running, but as the winter wore on and I continued to heal, I found myself standing on the indoor track of my local YMCA one morning, a pair of  glove-like contraptions on my feet.

I'd stumbled onto a post about Vibram's Five Fingers on a forum somewhere, and quickly ordered a pair of the quirky-looking things. I knew that my skin was not the thickly-calloused stuff of an advanced barefoot runner, but that I might get a feel for things with a bit of protection between me and the floor. Besides, they're strictly anti barefoot at the Y, so I needed something.

It was the first time I'd ever attempted to run without supposedly-stabilizing anti-pronation shoes, and I experimentally toed the ground and rolled my feet around on the track to see how it felt.

I'd spent the previous few days watching all the videos I could find of western barefoot runners and tribespeople who run with little or nothing on their feet. There were a few key differences I observed between their running and my own.


The main point I took from the videos was that none of the barefoot runners landed on their heels, because, as I found out through experimentation, it hurts way too much.

Runners proudly boast of increasing the length of their stride, which usually means reaching the leg far out in front of them and landing on their heel.

Kick off your shoes and try doing this barefoot and you'll findit's next to impossible to maintain for more than a few steps on a hard surface. There's no way that a heel strike could have been the natural inclination of our running ancestors.

Instead of landing on the heel, the runners I was observing in the videos landed flat footed or on the forefoot.

Another thing that I noticed was that their strides were short but very rapid, and their heels kicked up into the air behind them. They could still run fast this way, but with considerably less jaring.

I saw most barefoot runners have excellent posture. Running on the street, I often see joggers bent at the waist. Barefoot runners pretty much keep their torsos and heads in a straight line. Some do bend, but they do so at the ankles, a la ski jumpers.
Later on I noticed most of the children sprinting around the playground in a  park I run through display the same style, though they apparently seem to lose their inclination for it at some point.

And so at the Y I started teaching myself to run in place while mimicing that style. Eventually, when my right foot allowed it, I started doing a few laps.

My conclusion? It felt good. In fact, running had never felt better. Slowly, I started to imagine that I might have been wrong. Maybe, despite my flat feet and pronation, I really might have been born to run.

Born To Run: Could We Be Endurance Hunters? 

How About Fruit Hunters?

So why were we born to run? What possible practical purpose could long-distance running be put to? It's a question that no one has a solid answer to, but we're starting to make progress.

A number of scientists, taking note of our unusual running ability, theorize that the it evolved so we could exploit an empty hunting niche. They note that extant aboriginal peoples will occasionally literally run prey to death over many miles because their cooling abilities can't keep up with ours.

Yet even among Aboriginals, this is a source of a relatively small portion of their calories.

I'd argue that given how the rest of the human body is laid out, we adapted the ability to travel over the emerging African savanna to the fruit trees we rely on.

This is too complex of a topic to adequately tackle here, so if you'd like more information about this, check out this article on human evolution.

Why we were born to run may be up for interpretation to run, but it's clear that in recent decades, we've fallen far from our potential.

Messed up hamstrings, knee pain, plantar fasciitis, tendinitis - runners are a mess.

The culprit are the clunky running shoes and other corrective devices that steal our strength, allow us to adopt unnatural running strides.

To read about recent surge of research that is showing running shoes to be injury causers, and learn more about what you can do to stop the idiocy, read this article.

Born To Run: Back At It

As the last of winter snow began melting, I found myself padding down my city's streets in five fingers. At first it was tough to run just two miles, but I took things really slow.

The calf muscles, ankles, and stabilizers I'd never fully used in in running shoes were sore after just a short run, but I just gave myself more time to adjust because I realized I was really onto something. Though my right foot occasionally voiced some complaint, I found that as long as I stayed out of heeled shoes I could run without reinjuring it.

I read somewhere that most running shoes are similar to the casts we put our broken limbs in. Sure, they'll lock it in place and keep it stable, but so too will it mean the atrophy of all the muscles in the area. When you free your feet again, you'd better be ready for some major muscle building.

In May I decided to enter the Bishop's 5k For Kids, which was the second race I'd ever competed in. I had no intention of trying very hard, but I found myself easily outpacing most of the runners, and even took first in my 19-29 age group.

I shouldn't have, but some runners in front of me accidentally left the boundaries of the race and were disqualified. But still, I did better than I ever expected to do barefoot, and proved the viability of the idea. .

Since then I've been running completely barefoot on grass, trails, and pavement in an attempt to build up the tolerance of my skin.

I ran the 2009 Hartford Marathon in Five Fingers, and was amazed at how well it went. I plan to continue to increase my barefoot and minimalist speed and endurance.

The best part is that I feel I'm only just approaching my potential, and that I could conceivably build up to ultramarathon distances over the course of a few years if I feel the urge.

Born To Run: Hear Us Roar

You were born to run, and you have no more need of being injured than you do of being sick.

If you're feeling lethargic and find it hard to breath when you're running, it's likely that you're out of shape, but you could also be suffering from poor health in general. Chronic fatigue is a growing problem in our over stimulated world, and the only answer is healthy living.

Just breathing is another problem. I could never breathe through my nose when running until I'd stopped eating meat, dairy, eggs and grains. Similar changes will set you on the right path.

Barefoot or minimalist running is not magic, but merely common sense.

When you remove the shoes that allow you to adopt a running style in which you can injure yourself, you have little choice but to run in a more natural manner, even if you're not perfect.

Transitioning to barefoot running is an article in its own right, but it's safe to say you should go slow. Though I had been running 6 years when I went barefoot, and I was also a yoga devotee with legs in good shape, I still had major soreness, and I've spoken to others that had a much harder transition than myself. Go too quick and you risk serious injury, so just take things easy.

I think you'll find, after padding around a bit with so little between the earth and your feet, that you absolutely love it, and you'll have to admit that you are indeed born to run.

And besides, it's not just a joy, but a joy that's good for you. You were born to run, so get at it.