Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

I’m almost done with it myself!

I love the book, but there were a few sections that felt more like a commercial than sticking with the story. Barefoot/minimalist shoes and vegetarianism took up too much space. Just a little too preachy.

I’ve heard the evolution argument before. It seems legit to me and makes sense that we’re meant to be runners more than anything else. I mean, even the strongest men in the world would have a tough time winning a fight against the majority of predators. And no way would they be able to catch prey without technological advantages. Using groups to run down and tire out prey seems logical to me.

I have noticed with my own son that running was always natural for him. Rarely getting tired. Never complaining. He just enjoyed running. It was part of his play. Now that he’s getting older and stuck in school, reading, playing video games, watching TV - he’s not as “in shape” as he was when he was little. I imagine if he spent the majority of his time running and playing throughout his childhood and adolescence, he’d be in great to enjoy running long distances.

Along those lines is Running with Kenyans. I really liked both but I still wear cushioned running shoes.

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Any transition to minimalist footwear should be painfully gradual - tissue changes take time.

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I don’t think I could ever do it. My achilles get strained easily when running long distance. I go for shoes with a higher-than-average heel drop. I need powerlifting shoes to have the ankle mobility to squat parallel. Somewhere along the line, my Italian/Celtic ancestors lost the ability to have healthy Achilles tendons.

Washington Post just ran an article about the back and forth on minimalist shoes. Not a lot is established by solid studies. Mucho speculation. The book was mentioned in the article.

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”When minimalism came around the first time, its big flaw was the promise that if you went to a minimalist shoe and ran on your forefoot, you wouldn’t get injured,” says Jeff Dengate, editor in chief of Runner’s World magazine. “That didn’t happen, didn’t pan out, and the pendulum really swung back to the extreme opposite, to Hokas, to maximalism.”

Maximalist shoes, with a thick sole of cushioning under the foot and a light upper, feel good. However, when it comes to injury, thick-soled, cushioned shoes don’t appear to be any more protective than their thin-soled rivals. In fact, because the body automatically adjusts the springiness of the leg muscles according to the level of cushioning of the shoe and ground underfoot, some research shows that maximalist shoes actually increase the impact to the leg with running.

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LINK

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I’ve heard the evolution argument before. It seems legit to me and makes sense that we’re meant to be runners more than anything else. I mean, even the strongest men in the world would have a tough time winning a fight against the majority of predators. And no way would they be able to catch prey without technological advantages.

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i understand and agree with the evolution argument, but the last sentence kind of nullifies the point of the book.

all shoes are not created equally, but we've evolved as a species enough to know that protecting the foot by covering it and giving it soft undercushion has made humans able to go faster and farther. but we're also running for exercise and enjoyment... not to survive.

we're going to have injuries whether we wear no shoes, cheap walmart shoes, hoka max cushions, new balance fresh foam, nike carbon plates, xero shoes, or whatever.

i'm all about going back to nature and some attachment to our primative history, but i also like air conditioning.

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ll shoes are not created equally, but we've evolved as a species enough to know that protecting the foot by covering it and giving it soft undercushion has made humans able to go faster and farther. but we're also running for exercise and enjoyment... not to survive.

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Something I thought was interesting in Running With Kenyans if I remember right is that it's not the lack of shoes that prevents injury it's the learning to run without shoes. Their form is ingrained into them from a childhood of running barefoot (miles and miles a day just for school) that when they do run with shoes they keep the same running style. Something like that.

I finally said frick it and went full time to my Altra Torins. Put 20-30 miles a week on them for the last month. Added a 2 mile barefoot run on the local turf field. Figured next steps are getting some less cushioned shoes and slowly working those in.

I saw a baw running barefoot around City Park/LSU lakes last Sunday. That was my first in the wild barefoot sighting. He was on the street.