Outside Magazine Article About Barefoot Running

[ThomDavid]

Most of you probably already have seen this, but just in case: the April '13 issue of Outside Magazine has an article by Andrew Tilin entitled "You Don't Know How To Run." The article isn't available online yet, so you'll have to either wait a month, go to the library, or fork over a few shekels.

One guess what this article on barefoot running is almost entirely about? Shoes.

I don't want to start a battle (because, as the article points out, as a barefoot runner, I'm already engaged in a "war" with the shod universe, unbeknownst to me), but I'm going to lay down a marker here. It's been six months or so for me since I started running barefoot, and in that time, I've run with several types of minimalist shoes, as well as completely barefoot. And so, I think I possess the minimum required qualifications to make the following assertion: minimalist-shoe running is NOT barefoot running, and vice versa. Note that I am not claiming that one is necessarily superior to the other, but that they are different things by definition. I definitely have my preference between the two, but that is a preference, not a edict.

People can run however the hell they want to run, as far as I'm concerned. But I'd really like to be clear on the words people use to describe what they do. If you're wearing anything on your feet besides nail polish, you're running in shoes. Yes, they may be zero-drop, or minimalist, or sandals, or whatever else you want to call them. But you still aren't barefoot until the skin of your sole is meeting the surface of the street or trail.

Man, I'm prepared to take some sh!t for this post, so bring it on. I've just really had it up to my eyeballs with industries or individuals who seems to want to co-opt a very simple word that in any other context except running has an utterly clear meaning, I think just to keep the cash spigot wide open.

 

[Sid]

I'm with you. Maybe you saw my post in the WSJ thread about 4th grade grammar. I think that the same applies here. As per Merriam-Webster:
"Definition of BAREFOOT: with the feet bare"

7 year-olds are capable of looking up definitions in the dictionary (and probably quite capable of determining whether someone is running barefoot or with shoes). One who is incapable of doing so, is therefore less mentally developed than a 7 year-old. I don't argue with children, and out of compassion, I don't argue with those who possess the intellectual capacity of children.

 

[scedastic]

I'm with you. Doesn't seem complicated to me, and I'm no purist by any means. I run most of my miles in shoes(sandals and soft stars), and enjoy it immensely, but do run bf when the conditions are nice to me, not very often. A very different experience, to say the least, and the lack of ability to understand basic definitions does get annoying, though again, I'm generally not a purist with language. Maybe it bothers me so much because it is dangerous IMHO to confuse the two when one is considering getting rid of a lifetime of thick shoe wearing.
I'll conjecture that the popularity of calling shoes "barefoot" comes from the conflict of having a deep seated cultural discomfort with the idea of being bf while at the same time being drawn to the naturalistic fallacy.

 

[Mayka]

If you're wearing anything on your feet besides nail polish, you're running in shoes.

How much of the foot has to be exposed for it to be considered bare?

The first time I saw this I got a real chuckle out of it. Barefoot shoes? Perhaps not. But ingenious nonetheless.

 

[Barefoot Bone Rod]

Most of you probably already have seen this, but just in case: the April '13 issue of Outside Magazine has an article by Andrew Tilin entitled "You Don't Know How To Run." The article isn't available online yet, so you'll have to either wait a month, go to the library, or fork over a few shekels.

One guess what this article on barefoot running is almost entirely about? Shoes.

I don't want to start a battle (because, as the article points out, as a barefoot runner, I'm already engaged in a "war" with the shod universe, unbeknownst to me), but I'm going to lay down a marker here. It's been six months or so for me since I started running barefoot, and in that time, I've run with several types of minimalist shoes, as well as completely barefoot. And so, I think I possess the minimum required qualifications to make the following assertion: minimalist-shoe running is NOT barefoot running, and vice versa. Note that I am not claiming that one is necessarily superior to the other, but that they are different things by definition. I definitely have my preference between the two, but that is a preference, not a edict.

People can run however the hell they want to run, as far as I'm concerned. But I'd really like to be clear on the words people use to describe what they do. If you're wearing anything on your feet besides nail polish, you're running in shoes. Yes, they may be zero-drop, or minimalist, or sandals, or whatever else you want to call them. But you still aren't barefoot until the skin of your sole is meeting the surface of the street or trail.

Man, I'm prepared to take some shit for this post, so bring it on. I've just really had it up to my eyeballs with industries or individuals who seems to want to co-opt a very simple word that in any other context except running has an utterly clear meaning, I think just to keep the cash spigot wide open.

Preaching to the quire, AMEN. Yeah its too bad because damage has already been done. How many stories have been conveyed about a so-called "barefoot runner" getting a stress fracture wearing so called "barefoot shoes"? As information travels, barefoot is the word that sticks out, and people end up associating barefoot running with stress fractures. I would love to see some data on that to corroborate my own observations. My guess is 10 stress fractures wearing minimal shoes for every 1 stress fracture running barefoot.

Anyways, I appreciate your post TD. I say all of us concerned should call or email the companies using the term "barefoot shoe" and ask them to stop using it. If every barefoot runner did this one time, we might make a difference!

BR

 

[Longboard]

......a very simple word that in any other context except running has an utterly clear meaning......

There's a few other examples coming from the non runners:
"I like these shoes, but I don't think that I will wear them barefoot" (really meaning not without socks)
"I left my shoes in the car and went into the store in just my socks. I can't believe they let me in barefoot!"
Drives me crazy, but oh well.
In the 70's when the term Aerobic Exercise was coined I understood exactly what it meant, and Dr. Kenneth Cooper reached almost godlike status. All of a sudden people were running, cycling, jumping rope, you name it.
Then some inovater came up with a pretty cool idea: "Aerobic Dance", where you would participate in an instructor led activity as a group in a gym or studio and would get your heart rate up to training levels while dancing to some fun tunes everybody knew.
The followers were mostly women, and in short time "Are you going to Aerobics tomorrow morning?" was a commonly heard phrase.........and all was well.
But it didn't take very long before MOST people started using the word "aerobics" when describing the dance activity, and a few years later when doctors would recommend aerobic activity for it's health benefits people would snicker and say "well that's fine for the women, but what man in his right mind is going to do aerobics?"
When I would try to explain to the confused, it became pointless, everyone already KNEW that aerobics meant dancing in lycra as a group of women while following the leader.
We're losing this battle already...... to the main stream if you tell them you run barefoot, they just want to know "in which brand shoe?"

 

[NickW]

This is the very reason TJ and me and a bunch of others hate the term "barefoot shoes". There are no "barefoot shoes" in my mind. You have minshoes, or normal shoes in my opinion. I don't know how many people have asked me if I meant the toe shoes when I said I run barefoot. Irritates the crap out of me. I know I'm more minimalist now, but I still love barefoot runs and there is no confusing the two. My PT and I were talking about this very subject earlier today.

 

[Barefoot Gentile]

I got your back!! Nothing more annoying than people thinking running in "barefoot running shoes" is barefoot running. A quick funny story. I was running a 20K a few years back, there was this guy in front of me wearing Vibrams, and trying to chat up this girl. I overheard him say "Oh I have been running BAREFOOT like this for a few years now" Well that was my mark to pass him and hopefully he notices my barefeet. They both did, and the girl was like wow that's the real deal, silence from the vibram wearer. I just had to do it.

Barefoot Ramzev mentioned in his half marathon thread how people must think barefoot runners are deaf, well it's so true. I hear all the comments, it's pretty funny.

 

[DNEchris]

Barefoot Ramzev mentioned in his half marathon thread how people must think barefoot runners are deaf.

Perhaps it's just that we can't be heard!

 

[Bare Lee]

You have a great writing style Thom! And point well-taken.

Me, personally, I prefer to go skinny-dipping in my swim suit . . . less bacteria.

I got your back!! Nothing more annoying than people thinking running in "barefoot running shoes" is barefoot running. A quick funny story. I was running a 20K a few years back, there was this guy in front of me wearing Vibrams, and trying to chat up this girl. I overheard him say "Oh I have been running BAREFOOT like this for a few years now" Well that was my mark to pass him and hopefully he notices my barefeet. They both did, and the girl was like wow that's the real deal, silence from the vibram wearer. I just had to do it.

Good one!

 

[happysongbird]

I ran by someone today, while I was barefoot, and he exclaimed, "Hey, Five Fingers!" It actually confused me for a minute. I had to look down! Then, I quickly responded, "No, just plain old bare feet!"

 

[Woodsman]

Listen here, bub. I just bought a pair of high-tech, top-of-the-line, barefoot running shoes and I won’t have you coming here and telling me that I’m not running barefoot just because I choose to run barefoot while wearing shoes. The guy at the store guaranteed that these shoes were the only way to run barefoot. There is no logical reason why someone who was selling $140 shoes would lie to me about them being barefoot shoes.
The nerve of some people!

 

[NickW]

Listen here, bub. I just bought a pair of high-tech, top-of-the-line, barefoot running shoes and I won’t have you coming here and telling me that I’m not running barefoot just because I choose to run barefoot while wearing shoes. The guy at the store guaranteed that these shoes were the only way to run barefoot. There is no logical reason why someone who was selling $140 shoes would lie to me about them being barefoot shoes.
The nerve of some people!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Listen here, bub. I just bought a pair of high-tech, top-of-the-line, barefoot running shoes and I won’t have you coming here and telling me that I’m not running barefoot just because I choose to run barefoot while wearing shoes. The guy at the store guaranteed that these shoes were the only way to run barefoot. There is no logical reason why someone who was selling $140 shoes would lie to me about them being barefoot shoes.
The nerve of some people!

Get out of here troll! Hee.

 

[Dr. Mark]

Barefoot Runners,
Did my best here. I took Andrew on a true barefoot run, about 6 miles on a beautiful and smooth rural road. Along the way i had him take his shoes off to see what it is all about. He got it. How there stories end up in the end is out of your control.
Mark Cucuzzella

 

[ThomDavid]

Barefoot Runners,
Did my best here. I took Andrew on a true barefoot run, about 6 miles on a beautiful and smooth rural road. Along the way i had him take his shoes off to see what it is all about. He got it. How there stories end up in the end is out of your control.
Mark Cucuzzella

No fault of yours at all, Dr. Mark. In fact, when the article literally opened with your name in the first sentence, I was really expecting a quality piece on barefoot running. I should have been clued in by the half-dozen or so ads for minimalist running shoes throughout the issue. I'm not saying that the editorial direction was to favor shoe-wearing over barefoot because that's where the ad money is; the writer deserves more credit than that (the publications themselves don't, though; they do that sort of thing on a regular basis, as I know from my own business).

My point was only that the shoe industry has managed to co-opt the word itself, so that, at least in running terms, barefoot essentially equals some sort of minimalist shoe. It drives me mad. But, when it bothers me too much, I just take off my shoes and go for a run.

 

[otoole4info]

I've just really had it up to my eyeballs with industries or individuals who seems to want to co-opt a very simple word that in any other context except running has an utterly clear meaning, I think just to keep the cash spigot wide open.

Ditto! It's amazing what will be done, said, printed, etc to keep that "cash spigot" flowing.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Everyone knows that the terminology being used for marketing minshoes has weighed heavily on my mind for a long time because we support minshoe companies here that use that same terminology. In the end, we can only educate, educate, educate, because it's going to be used by forces greater than ourselves whether we like it or not. BUT, that terminology is bringing us members, members that we barefoot runners can mold to our ideals, or at least open their minds to the possibilities, and that terminology is bringing people to a way of running that may allow them to run forever (if they are wise), whereas if they kept running in their foot coffins, their feet would surely die (like my own). So. Do we choose health over principle?

My main issue with the terminology comes from barefoot running getting blamed for minshoe injuries by doctors who incorrectly (sometimes deceptively) report injury numbers to the press. Again, that's where we need to continue to step in and clarify the facts. "The person was not running barefoot when they were injured. They had something on their feet. Duh! Get with the program!" Now if we could influence the change in the terminology from "barefoot shoes" to "barefoot inspired shoes" (or something similar), that would help greatly.

 

[Bill B]

Hmm, ever since I started running bare feet, I can't believe how much money I've saved on shoes! I think it's the technique of running bare feet that is the same as running in mini shoes hence the oxymoron "barefoot shoes"! I use mini shoes in winter since my little piggies can't handle the cold and snow yet, but come warmer weather, they will be bare.

 

[barefootn]

I'm a "barefeet runner"

Blog entry posted by barefootn, Mar 4, 2013.

I mean really, how many people run with one shoe off??
I run with barefeet. I'm a barefeet runner!
What is one half of a barefeet runner?
Answer, a barefoot runner.
No, wearing socks on feet is not barefeet.
No, wearing huraches is not barefeet running
Nope also to finger shoes.
When I wear minimal shoes I run shod.​