Can you believe that - $4.95 to read an article?

So -- here's a text version. Unfortunately, it includes neither the
pictures (one very handsome one of yours truly) nor the excellent
sidebar article on KBS. And the text includes some really laughable
comments from an orthopedic surgeon. Anyway, enjoy!




SHOELESS JOES
Some runners taking to sport in bare feet
Monday, June 27, 2005
Dennis Fiely
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
JEFF HINCKLEY | DISPATCH PHOTOS
.

Most people kick off their shoes to relax. Jerry Griffin removes his to
run.

He logs up to 20 miles a week barefoot on tracks and grass in
Granville, his hometown.

‘‘I just find it extremely satisfying," said the 65-year-old corporate
financial consultant. ‘‘I feel more connected to the ground."

A fitness runner for 45 years, Griffin is a recent convert to shoeless
training, a small but growing trend in the running community.

Advocates have included world-class African runners and U.S. track
coaches. They claim running au natural improves performance and
helps prevent injury by restoring a natural gait.

‘‘All this incredible shoe technology is crap," said Griffin. ‘‘Your foot
placement will be correct if you are running barefooted."

The first time Griffin tried it last fall, he clipped nearly a minute from
his average 1-mile times.

‘‘I was stunned," he said. ‘‘My friends thought I was a madman, but I
ran faster than ever."

Lighter feet increased his acceleration and stride length — the only
two ways to run faster.

More important, Griffin ran pain-free for the first time in four years.

He blamed heavily padded shoes for sore knees and a stress
fracture he suffered last summer in a 5-kilometer race.

Running barefoot, he said, forced him to land softly on the balls of
his feet instead of hard on his heels.

‘‘I was a classic heel-striker, and you can’t run on your heels that
way," Griffin said.

Another convert is Stephanie Agosto, who began four months ago
jogging shoeless 15 minutes a day, three times a week, to
rehabilitate tendinitis in her knee.

"When I run barefooted, I feel no pain," said the 44-year-old
Denison University wellness coordinator. "It’s the best way to
strengthen my weak ankles, which were causing my tendinitis."

Shoeless training has been practiced by elite athletes for decades,
but it surged into the mainstream late last month when Nike began
heavy promotion of its Nike Free, a featherweight shoe intended to
simulate barefoot running.

Triathlete Jerry Hennelly covered at least one shoeless mile a week
on the Gahanna Lincoln High School track before he snapped up a
pair of Nike Frees in March.

"My feet feel muscular," said the 38-year-old Gahanna police officer.
"It’s really kind of cool."

He also appreciates its protection from debris, a primary purpose of
the shoe.

"It allows me to run barefoot wherever I want without turning my feet
to hamburger from twigs and glass," Hennelly said.

Most barefoot runners compile training mileage on school tracks or
grass. They are reluctant to subject their feet to cuts and bruises on
roads and sidewalks.

Structural damage continues to concern medical professionals.

"If you are running without protection, you are putting yourself at
risk," said orthopedic surgeon Greg Berlet, a Columbus foot and
ankle specialist. "This is a dangerous idea for average athletes."

While it may help strengthen the 20 foot muscles, "My concern is
stress to the bones and ligaments," Berlet said.

Tendinitis and stress fractures are the most common injuries he
sees among runners whose feet are improperly cushioned and
supported.

"The technology in today’s shoes is all good," Berlet said. "They
have shock-absorbing soles, inserts so the feet don’t roll and
rockers to push off of. The real story is the gain made during the
past 10 years in shoe construction."

Early in her career, Kitty Consolo, a two-time winner of the
Cleveland Marathon, tried a shoeless 3-mile run on asphalt and
grass.

"It was a disaster for me," said Consolo, an anatomy and physiology
instructor at Ohio University-Zanesville. "I couldn’t walk the next
day."

She suffered an inflammation of the heel known as plantar fasciitis
that troubled her for a year.

Now, she said, "I won’t walk barefoot or even wear slippers."

Consumers and even some retailers are struggling to accept the
less-is-more concept behind the Nike Free.

"We are being very cautious with it," said Kevin O’Grady, an owner
of Front Runner specialty-shoe store on Lane Avenue. "It is just not
practical for most people."

Nike packages the shoe with a training protocol that implores
wearers to slowly build tolerance to its athletic slipper.

"Wearing this is like running," said Trent Neely, a manager of
Second Sole in Gahanna. "You don’t do 5 miles your first time out."

Hennelly, the Gahanna police officer, went too far too fast and, as a
result, strained an arch.

"I backed off, recovered and went into the training regimen that Nike
recommends," he said. "It’s the only shoe I’ve seen that comes with
an instruction manual."

Hennelly also follows Nike’s advice to use the Nike Free in
conjunction with a more supportive shoe.

He runs an average of 22 miles a week but limits his time in the
Nike Free to short recovery runs and sprints.

"For my longer runs, I wear a fully supportive shoe," Hennelly
emphasized.

For purists such as Griffin, the Nike Free doesn’t make sense.

"It’s an oxymoron," he said. "Why wear a shoe to run barefooted?"

One member at his YMCA, where he circles the track shoeless for
up to 7 miles, has an answer for him, he said.

"She always complains that my feet are dirty."

dfiely@...


Copyright © 2005, The Columbus Dispatch


On 27 Jun 2005 at 18:10, Rick Roeber wrote:

Unfortuanately, Jerry, in order to read the article the Columbus
Dispatch wants to sell a $4.95 subscription.

Could you just copy the text into an email so we could read it?

Thanks!

BR

PS - Good to hear from you!

Jerry Griffin <jerryg@...> wrote:
Here's a link to today's Columbus Dispatch. The paper also carried
a
long sidebar featuring Ken Bob.

http://www.dispatch.com/features-
story.php?story=dispatch/2005/06/27/20050627-D1-01.htm

-- Jerry Griffin







Yahoo! Groups Links









Visit my website: www.barefootrunner.org



Jerry Griffin -- CFO On Call -- 4 Sheppard Place -- Granville, OH
43023
jerryg@... -- web site: www.cfo-on-call.com
Office: 740-321-1188 -- Home: 740-587-3368 -- Fax: 740-587-
1612
Mobile: 740-403-6399