Until about a week ago, I was a shod runner or heal striker. Like so many others, I was turned onto the idea of barefoot running by Vibram Five Fingers (I have no affiliation - just a customer). I was sold after watching the video on their website main page about the Harvard researchers who have studied barefoot running and had nothing but positive things to say about it. After picking up a pair of Five Fingers I was so excited about the idea that I started searching online for information. I was amazed. I got the sense that this was such an incredibly simple and obvious concept. Why had no one told me of this before? Why hadn't I thought of this?! Human feet are designed to run without a shoe - der! Based on some of the testimonials I've read, I decided to actually put the Five Fingers in the closet for the time being and let my soles toughen up while my muscles and joints adapt to the new motion. Shoes can arguably be bad for runners but I am in no way endorsing this for all people and am not saying everyone should go out and do this. This is an individual decision for each runner. If you are interested, check out a few of the sources listed below which provide some great information on the topic.
http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu//
http://barefootkenbob.com/ - this guy is, like, one of the guys
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--6728-0,00.html- great article and check out the comments too
http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0103/mw.htm
http://www.barefootrunner.com/
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/indexNA.cfm
I'm also in the process of reading "Born to Run" by Christopher Mcdougall - very good book.
RM
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