For me,
The barefoot/minimalist movement is what made it possible to find running at all. I had tried running before (with shoes) and it never worked out for me. It turns out that my feet are rather different in size from one another so one shoe was always either too tight or too loose. The barefoot movement allowed me to run w/ either no shoes, or a reasonably priced pair of sandals that were cut to fit my feet individually. Then, once I finished couch to 5K, I went on to start a local running club in my own town(up to 200 members now), and have since coached groups through 3 more Couch to 5K sessions. And this year, we are assisting with putting on our own local race. I pretty much ascribe all of that to the barefoot movement.
The barefoot/minimalist movement is what made it possible to find running at all. I had tried running before (with shoes) and it never worked out for me. It turns out that my feet are rather different in size from one another so one shoe was always either too tight or too loose. The barefoot movement allowed me to run w/ either no shoes, or a reasonably priced pair of sandals that were cut to fit my feet individually. Then, once I finished couch to 5K, I went on to start a local running club in my own town(up to 200 members now), and have since coached groups through 3 more Couch to 5K sessions. And this year, we are assisting with putting on our own local race. I pretty much ascribe all of that to the barefoot movement.