I think SA misses the point.
I think SA misses the point. I don't care what other's run in, but I do like to promote the idea of giving true barefoot a try.
I also want to preserve the right for us to race barefoot (it's banned in some events) and protect our freedom to legaly go barefoot anywhere we choose.
When a sports physician tells his readers that NOBODY really runs barefoot, he is harming the efforts of people like myself.
Forget running, my belief is that barefoot is better unless shoes as tools are needed, and people should be free to decide for themselves whether or not they want to be full-time tool users, part-time, or never. Most people won't accept the barefoot option because they have already been brainwashed by our shod culture.
If he said "Most of you have no desire to be barefoot, so thankfully there are shoes available now that mimic barefoot gait" that would be different. Instead he's claiming that people like us "skin to the grounders" are imaginary images created by the media's regular use of a newly defined by him word.
It's great that minimalist shoes are available, but I worry that they may do to barefoot running what flip-flops did to barefoot living......create an alternative to barefoot that eventually totaly replaces the real thing.
Flips are not better than barefoot, but in plenty of areas of the Western world very few people under 40 remember ever going barefoot outdoors.
Possibly all too soon when people hear about Bebe or Zola they will picture their wins at the races in Vibrams, Merrells, Adidas, Nikes, Sauconys, and New Balances. I mean, that's what barefoot is, right?
