Ken Bob actually told me over
Ken Bob actually told me over the phone that he could see training his feet to tolerate extreme hot pavement, but he, unlike Rick, could not see tolerating extreme cold and snow. He gives props to Rick for being able to do that.
Ken Bob doesn't claim to be a purist, although everyone would like to paint him that way. In fact, if you visit his group on the net, there's a note on the forward page that states this. I too thought he was a purist (meaning no shoes at all, ever), so when we asked him to join the BRS as Senior Advisor to the Board, I wanted to make sure that he knew what our beliefs were, since I didn't want to compromise his views on the subject. Turns out, he was clearly onboard with our viewpoint when it comes to using shoes as tools and the least amount of shoe for the job, barefoot always being best when conditions are safe, and we were rather relieved, since we really value him as a person and as a mentor. So Jason and Ken Bob are coming from the same place.
And, of course, the BRS always recommends that people learn to run barefoot by ditching their shoes cold turkey, making the sacrifices to their speed and distances upfront, and get the racing goals out of the way...knowing that they will be able to acheive all of what they had before, but enjoy it so much more.