Barefoot running is not fast food.

Dammit! I didn't read this thread soon enough to see the video....my day is destroyed.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong about this, but I think one of the finer points in that rant is that it is to become a barefoot runner that the min shoes are hurting people. Lots of people can go out and just be a minimal runner and be happy with that, but I have to agree the reason I kinda suck at actual barefoot running is because I get so many choices to turn to when I'm uncomfortable. Oh its too cold, great, I'll throw on my zems, those rocks aren't feeling so awesome, altras here I come. And the list goes on.....I like barefoot running the best under good conditions, but the conditions get a bit rough and I'm very quickly back to being a minimal runner. I think the rant was totally justified for people who want to become successful full time (or nearly full time) barefoot runners and wasn't at all too harsh. You want to get better, than suck it up. Personally I don't care much if I have to thrown on min shoes for lots of occasions, I think there are lots of people that agree with me, but it also doesn't seem that that is who the true aim of the rant was at.
 
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I'm glad you understand, Gent. I hate doing that, but like you said, I have a job to do, and it's hard pleasing everyone. I guess if it wasn't an F-word type video thing, then it would have been okay?
 
Or a "B" word video...TJ, I like bustin' your ba...uh, bits?

Anyway, I get where BG is coming from. Also, agree with where ajb422 touched. As long as "barefoot shoes" are equated with barefoot running then every injury that occurs in said shoes are attributed to barefoot running and not TMTS in minimal shoes. The press, and public don't discern between the two. That's why some of us are so adamant about distinguishing between the two when we talk about it. Even if it earns us an "elitists or barefoot zealot" label. It's not that we all hate shoes, we just hate the fact that all those running injuries are lumped into the barefoot running category. Wow, that's the most serious post I've made in months....
 
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I totally get and agree with Talon's perspective. I get asked about my "barefoot running" all the time; thing is I haven't consistently run barefoot since late last year. I run in minimals or huaraches (again), but the general public equates that to barefoot. i'm hopeful that I can go back to full barefoot running but my metatarsal aches if i go even less than a 10th of a mile. since i don't, I spend a lot of time correcting folks to the fact that I'm a "minimal runner" and not a barefoot runner anymore. It does irk me a bit to hear "I'm a barefoot runner too! I just got toe shoes..." because I know tmts and complaints about "barefoot running" will find me in no time.
 
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Each year there is a new wave of barefoot runners. That is what happens when spring comes. Sometimes the waves are bigger than other thanks to a book or person or some other event. It is like the waves at the ocean. Some are bigger than others, but they are usually always there and in a pattern.

What I have seen over the years is more people talking about running in some sort of minimalist shoe. However, when I first started, there weren't any of these minimalist shoes (at least, none that I knew about). So when I started, I had to run either barefoot or with shoes. I didn't want to run with shoes, so barefoot was the only choice. I survived. Now there are so many minimalist shoes that people are asking more questions about them (which is needed) and there are more choices - shoes, minimalist, or barefoot, or even a mix of them.

For the first few, it might be kind of aggravating to have to learn all of these new words and categories when the person runs barefoot. Five years ago, if I said I ran barefoot, then people knew I didn't wear any type of shoe. Over the years, that has changed and I have to add more words and clarify exactly how I run. Barefoot running is supposed to be simple, but trying to explain it to people has become more complex.
 
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For the first few, it might be kind of aggravating to have to learn all of these new words and categories when the person runs barefoot. Five years ago, if I said I ran barefoot, then people knew I didn't wear any type of shoe. Over the years, that has changed and I have to add more words and clarify exactly how I run. Barefoot running is supposed to be simple, but trying to explain it to people has become more complex.

Maybe we should call the intermittent use of minimalist shoes "Minimalish"...
 
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Some comments unsimpatetic to OP provoked me to register and send my first post.

I have to defend the Gentile and to agree with Ramzev concerning the new barefooters, because, as he said, there is really not much to talk about barefoot running except to take your shoes of :) My personal experience is proof to that statement. The posts and informations from The other forum(first) and lately much more from this site were enough to get me started. All the questions I had were answered somewhere in the posts and the stickies(TJ, you have to consider having informations for newbies in the stickies as RW does!), so I didnt had the need to ask more, and was slowly building my barefoot stamina. Now, with over a year of barefoot running in which I logged some 500 BF miles AND completed my first-ever marathon(barefoot, of course), I could say that altough theres much for me to learn concerning the technique, barefoot running is actually very simple. As Zev said, If conversation doesnt involve beer, there would be very little of it.
As for some people getting offended by the OP, I think that they have to get better familiarized with his style. My impression is that he just wants to stirr up the conversation with some provocative statements.
 
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I am very familiar with that "other place," Bose.

We have a Library that I will be putting back on the new site (was on the old site), so that's where we refer newcomers to. Much better than Stickies at the top. I just have to find the time to devote to just that, recreating pages.
 

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