Bruce Tulloh, European 5000m champion in 1962, one of Britain’s best and most popular runners of the 1960s, trans-America record-breaker, and an ongoing influential figure in British athletics as a coach and writer, died on April 28, at his home in Marlborough, of cancer, aged 82.

Tulloh was the first non-African to compete without shoes in top-level international races, and he argued that the lack of any weight on his feet enabled him to accelerate more suddenly. That could give him a surprise winning break even on world-class fields like the 1962 European 5000m, when he got away with 700m to go.

Deceptively...

I keep hearing this fallacy repeated not just here but everywhere running on concrete or asphalt is brought up. There's an automatic assumption that hard surfaces are the source of damaging impact from running. The trouble with that is it's just an assumption and I have yet to come across research backing up this assumption.

The assumption does have its reasons, of course, as there's lot of anecdotal stories about people's joints hurting or overall feeling discomfort after running on paved surfaces. In addition to this people say they don't feel the same discomfort or pain on dirt trails or gravel. Continuing the assumption, it's theorized that dirt and gravel are "softer" than pavement.

I fell for this exact fallacy. I much preferred running on the gravel roads near my house than the paved ones. Transitioning from gravel to paved was...

Xtratufs, Bogs, Muck Boots — comfortable, waterproof footwear is pretty much a necessity here in Juneau. But not for the local some know as “the barefoot guy.”

“Oh yeah, barefoot guy! What’s the story?” said Juneau resident Michael Boyer. “Is he a hobbit? Is he into New Age spiritual stuff? Don’t his feet get cold?”

Boyer lives in the neighborhood above Juneau-Douglas High School.

As he’s out walking his dog or with his kids day to day, he’s noticed a certain walker who also frequents the area.

“Rain, shine, 10 degrees, 70 degrees, uh, never any shoes,” Boyer said after submitting his question to Curious Juneau. He wanted to know more about the mysterious man whose bare footprints crisscross the neighborhood.

One 30-degree day, I had my own sighting [Hysterical, right? -TJ] downtown near the State...