My Ninja Turtles

Barefoot running has been getting a lot of attention recently, especially with the 2009 publication of Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. (Video of McDougall describing his book here.)

Running without the support of shoes changes the mechanics of the way you run. Most runners are taught to run heel to toe. Barefoot running, however, encourages more of a mid or forward strike. The argument is that as you shed your shoes and allow your feet to teach you how to run, you strengthen your foot and calf muscles and can avoid many types of chronic running injuries.

But of course there are critics who point out that there is no real scientific evidence to support the claim that barefoot running decreases injury. And in fact, they counter that barefoot runners, or runners who use transitional or minimalist shoes actually experience more stress fractures.

If you google barefoot running, the first website you'll see is Barefoot Running is Bad. I was curious about the author's reasoning, but I admit that the angry tone turned me off before I could finish reading the first page.

Runner's World Magazine has two hundred entries under "barefoot running," but I've only made it through two:

• "Barefoot Running: Two sides of a very hot topic" is a brief interview with "Barefoot Ken Bob" Saxton, founder of runningbarefoot.org, and podiatrist and runner, Kevin Kirby.
• "Foot Loose" is a short, personal account of Peter Sagel's initial experience with the Vibram FiveFingers. (Sagal is also the host of one of my favorite podcasts: NPR's "Wait, Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!")

Which brings me to my Ninja Turtles (a nickname given by a friend who saw the pictures I posted of my Vibrams on Facebook):

        

Being curious about the hype and in need of new running shoes, I hunted down this pair while I was in Texas. Despite the controversy (Barefoot Ken Bob specifically warns people not to wear these types of shoes before they learn to run truly barefoot), the stores are having a hard time keeping them in stock. My usual running store was completely out of the model I wanted, the Bikila, and when I finally found these, the shop only had two sizes and colors available.

Since purchasing them, I've been on one 2.5 mile walk, two 2.5 mile runs, and one 4 mile run, and so far I'm happy. My calves and feet are a little sore (as predicted), but I feel good when I'm running in them.

All (4) of the people I know who own them also report being satisfied with their funky shoes, so I'm interested in seeing how long it takes to fully adjust. I'm still working on my stride, and I'd still like to try true barefoot running, but my new gear is already beginning to make me feel like a hero in a half shell.