The Paul McCartney Runner

First let me say that I love Paul McCartney! That may be a bit too much, but the fact is, I really like the Beatles, my wife really likes the Beatles, we got engaged at the Imagine mosaic in Central Park. I say all of this first because I am about to use the name Paul McCartney in a slightly negative way, but he is the best example I can think of and to be true to my thoughts while running he is who I thought of when I conceived this post. For those old enough to remember the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (I am not one of those people, nor were my parents, but I've seen the clips many times) you may recall screaming girls, love songs, and mop tops. You may also recall a young Paul McCartney singing. He had a very unique style where he would bob his head back and forth in a very peculiar manner. This seemed to make the girls go crazy and in my opinion he looked pretty cool doing it. However, this moving of the head back and forth is not an advantageous way to run. If you've read any other blogs of mine, you might be aware that I am currently attending an average sized university in the midwest, one that is not too big on the barefoot movement (I have to wear VFF on the indoor track, and got caught trying to run in socks the other day). It's funny to me that I seem to get more looks from wearing the VFF than those people who run with very interesting gaits. It may be that I'm pretty overweight for a distance runner, and have a large beard, but basically it seems to be the Vibram's. One guy on the track past me a couple of times. He was very muscular, wore a nice tight muscle shirt and had an ipod securely fastened to his gleaning muscular arm. Running behind him I couldn't help but see the resemblance of Paul McCartney's bob and this guy's run. I could not tell the reason for the bob. Could he just be listening to some really cool music (perhaps the Beatles)? My guess....well my guess is probably wrong so I won't try. Could it be that his muscles are so tight that when each leg moves the muscles in his neck move as well? Or could it be that it just looks cool to move your head back and forth that way and that it impresses the ladies? I remember reading a passage from Born to Run that talked about Dr. Lieberman's work at Harvard, and how he said that humans have the capability to hold their necks straight and that this is what distinguishes them from other animals, such as pigs, and allows us to run for longer distances. I wanted to tell the guy about the science behind his head bobbing but he stopped running after a couple laps and started bench pressing my weight (which is pretty impressive). For me I can really tell the difference when I concentrate on relaxing everything and keeping my head straight. This isn't difficult to do and I don't have to even focus on keeping my head straight I just don't try to move it. Anyone else have these experiences? Or am I just a bitter man, tired of being told I can't run in barefeet, looking for things to nit pick at. Maybe I'm too cynical, but oh well, I'm learning. It is kind of fun to think of musicians or other famous people with distinct characteristics and make them a type of runner. I wonder if we can think of more.......