Jim, I enjoyed reading the quotes of your remarks in The Sun article
on barefoot running. I agree with you. Proper shoes are a necessity
for runners like me who pronate. Some runners have imperfections
such as differing leg lengths. And, duh, despite the percentage
quotes, maybe there are more injuries because there are more
runners. I think some runners who have perfect balance, a perfect
build and a great VO2Max never get injured running while wearing
shoes. For them running hills is effortless. -Yvonne Aasen



Yvonne,

Thanks for noticing. I thought I would publish the nexus of the telephone
interview since a lot of things were left out. One online poster on the Sun
forum claimed that of course I am opposed to barefoot running since my business
is at stake. If that were the case we would adapt, sell the Five Fingers,
Frees, and other footwear. They cost about the same as regular shoes anyway.
What I said was that we like our repeat customers, and if they get injured they
aren’t coming back for awhile.

Some folks online also took issue with Pete for remarking that anyone who wants
to try the Baltimore Half-Marathon barefoot should be ready for a staph
infection. Apparently they aren’t as familiar with the ground conditions of the
pre-gentrified areas east and north of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

BTW, I did the firewalk a few years ago. Thirty feet across a bed of burning
coals totally barefoot. Pants rolled up so they wouldn’t catch on fire

I didn’t get hurt. But I wouldn’t ever suggest that anybody go out and do that
without proper preparation beforehand either.

A summary of the discussion with the reporter went something like this: (As you
can see, some of our statements were re-iterated by other people in the
interview, and ours were not included).
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Q: What do you think of the new barefoot running as championed in the book Born
to Run?
A: Barefoot running or running with minimal footwear like the new Fingers shoes
is a recipe for a lot of runners to get hurt. We saw it with the introduction
of the Nike Free several years ago. These types of shoes are supposed to be
worn gradually to allow the foot to get used to running without support. The
problem is that too many runners will jump on this fad as the answer to all
their running problems and go run ten miles in the Five Fingers the next day.
They are going to injure themselves doing that.

We see it all the time with track and field athletes. They train in regular
running shoes with built-up insoles, and then go run a distance event in spikes
with no heel or insole support. If they haven’t done a few workouts in the
spikes before the race, they can strain their Achilles tendon.

The same with the Free. When that shoe came out, it was designed for an athlete
to put it on after a long run or workout and do a few strides to work the
muscles of the feet. But so many runners thought it was a new technology and
went out and did long runs for the marathon in the shoe. Many of them developed
plantar fasciitus or Achilles tendonitis and were done for the year. We like
repeat customers, and it is hard to have repeat customers when they are in a
boot for six months from wearing the Free.

Q: What about the Tarahumara Indians and ancient hunters mentioned in Born to
Run?
A: I haven’t read the book, but it is my understanding the Indian tribe wears
sandals made out of discarded tires. Nike tried to put them in Nike shoes in
the Western States 100 several years ago and after a couple miles they threw the
Nikes away and put their tire sandals back on. But I haven’t read the book so I
don’t know what he says about them.

I do know that the book talks about ancient hunters running down their prey for
long distances because people who have read it have commented about that. I’m
of the mindset that back in those days if you hunted with the pack then you
needed to be able to keep up with the pack. And if you had biomechanical
inefficiencies that caused an injury to your knees, your heels or otherwise and
couldn’t keep up, then you weren’t part of the pack. And if you weren’t the
hunter, you became the hunted. Consequently, the biomechanical inefficient
sector of the population was removed from the gene pool.

Then mankind figured out horseback riding, buggies, trains and cars which
allowed the inefficient runner to re-proliferate, and allowed the podiatric
profession to evolve.

Anyway, that’s my thought.

Q: Have you tried barefoot running?
A: I use to run barefoot on a football field after a long workout. A few
striders to strengthen my feet. I have worn the Five Fingers and they feel
weird at first. You can feel the grass blades beneath your toes and pebbles
under your feet. I’ve run on the old railroad bed in Robert E Lee Park and they
feel good, but when you come up into the rocky hill area they barely protect
your feet from the sharp rocks so you need to be careful. I wouldn’t run with
them on city streets because I don’t think they can stop glass and nails from
penetrating the bottoms.
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