Juneathon 2011 Day 8: Barefoot Running and Minimalist Shoes

2011 Streak Day 158/365: Run - 4.09 miles, Time - 36min 17sec, Weather - Constable's clouds

Part 1 - After a preamble I give a link to all you need to know about barefoot running

I have a slightly perverse streak: as soon as something becomes fashionable, or widely talked about, I will shun it. I will put on my blinkers and deliberately look the other way, as if to say 'I am not swayed by the crowd, I am not mindlessly following the herd'. As if anyone was noticing or anybody cared.

It is of course nonsense and something one is meant to grow out of at the age of 20 but it is still there inside me like a tiny piece of shrapnel from one of any number of cultural wars. It also goes against my underlying philosophy, which is a form of Enlightenment empiricism. I ought to look at everything with an open mind, examine evidence, and then draw conclusions but sometimes I forget that.

I am especially suspicious of anything with evangelical adherents, which is why I instinctively distrusted POSE: not because I don't think it has good things to say about running form but because I cannot believe there is only one way to run, one style which suites everybody.

In fact my reactions are not against things that are popular they are against things that feel like a cult. And POSE felt like a cult

However I am not so resistant to barefoot running, and the move towards more minimal shoes, because it is not so prescriptive. In fact it is something I have always been interested in because I naturally land on my forefoot/midfoot. Against all my normal instincts I am actually pleased it has become a fashionable topic of conversation in the running world.

The attention is at-last waking-up the major manufacturers who are begining to think about shoes for forefoot striking. This could lead to some interesting innovations. Saucony are the first of the main stream companies out of the blocks with the Hattori. It will be interesting to see how it does. In fact I am so interested I have just ordered a pair. In due course I will write about how I get on.

In the meantime if anybody wants to read about the current knowledge about barefoot running. I can recommend this post from the Science of Sport blog.

Part 2 - The run

In many ways todays run was similar to yesterdays. The pace was similar as was the route. However there was a huge difference in my mood. I went out feeling content  and returned just as happy.

It was a nice run but nothing much happened.

Part 3 - The picture

My pictures of flowers tend to be a fall back when I haven't been  very far (my run was round a park) but nevertheless I am endlessly fascinated by both the patterns of the flowers and the combinations you see.