I just finished the book, Born to Run, which is a fantastic read. I will do a review and some other follow-up posts related to the book. First things first, the book inspired me to immediately go out and do a bit of running.
I went to the local track and ran barefoot on the grass, right on the inside of the track. I did a number of single laps at any easy pace, nothing too fast. It is amazing the difference between running barefoot on the grass versus running in shoes on pavement. Barefoot on grass, I seem to have no problems - the stride feels easy and there isn't much mental calculation about trying to run the right way.
The book discusses the problems with shoes from a number of different angles. It has inspired me to finally bite the bullet and go buy some Vibram FiveFingers. Last year, I noticed that even my minimal shoes, the Puma H Street, affected my running gait. I'm hoping the Vibrams will keep my barefoot stride intact.
After finishing the book, I wondered: how many people have been cheated out of running by the shoe industry? If barefoot/minimal shoes were the norm, there would be a lot fewer injured and disappointed runners.
I just finished the book, Born to Run, which is a fantastic read. I will do a review and some other follow-up posts related to the book. First things first, the book inspired me to immediately go out and do a bit of running.
I went to the local track and ran barefoot on the grass, right on the inside of the track. I did a number of single laps at any easy pace, nothing too fast. It is amazing the difference between running barefoot on the grass versus running in shoes on pavement. Barefoot on grass, I seem to have no problems - the stride feels easy and there isn't much mental calculation about trying to run the right way.
The book discusses the problems with shoes from a number of different angles. It has inspired me to finally bite the bullet and go buy some Vibram FiveFingers. Last year, I noticed that even my minimal shoes, the Puma H Street, affected my running gait. I'm hoping the Vibrams will keep my barefoot stride intact.
After finishing the book, I wondered: how many people have been cheated out of running by the shoe industry? If barefoot/minimal shoes were the norm, there would be a lot fewer injured and disappointed runners.