McDougall’s message: Unshod or shod, running can and should be fun

April 10, 2011

By Darren Richardson, C.M.T. - Golden State Touch

Spring is in the air, and author Christopher McDougall is celebrating the paperback release of his 2009 best-seller “Born to Run” with what he’s dubbed “The Naked Tour” - and the San Francisco Bay Area was lucky enough to get in on the fun twice in one weekend.

Beginning with a three-hour event Friday in Palo Alto that drew more than a hundred people to Zombie Runner over the course of the evening, McDougall, his running coach Eric Orton, and sports nutritionist Sunny Blende gave brief presentations, took one-on-one questions, laughed and smiled a lot and generally just seemed to be having a great time. The mood at Zombie Runner was like that of a house party where the hosts served shoes instead of booze. Vendors from VIVOBAREFOOT, Vibram Five Fingers, Merrell Barefoot, and New Balance displayed some of their latest designs, and the store raffled off prizes ranging from shoes to coffee to zombie dolls.

For those unfamiliar with “Born to Run,” one of the most-visible consequences of the book’s success has been an increase in barefoot running and running in what is termed “minimalist footwear.” The book has its origins in the author’s quest to find a way to run again after his doctor told him his running days were over.

But the doctor turned out to be wrong. McDougall saw a photo of an elderly (but extremely athletic) man in sandals crossing the finish line of a marathon and wondered why someone running almost barefoot, especially at that age, could have feet strong enough to reach the finish line of such a grueling event when his own feet were more or less kaput after years of running in the “best” shoes money could buy. Thus begins one of the most refreshingly original and eminently readable works of American non-fiction written in this young century.

There’s more to the story, of course, but this is the part where I suggest you buy “Born to Run” and read it for yourself. You will be glad you did. Without giving too much away, I will just say this: McDougall is indeed running again – often without any shoes at all.

While the shoes-or-no-shoes aspect of "Born to Run" is really just a small part of the whole amazing tale, it has fueled a lot of the media attention on the book. On Saturday before an event at Book Passage in Corte Madera, McDougall and Orton were joined by about 25 to 30 runners in various states of footwear ranging from standard running shoes to thin-soled minimalist styles to barely there sandals to bare feet for a 30-minute run out and back along a bike trail near the bookstore. Blue skies and temperatures hovering around 60 degrees helped make the run even more enjoyable.

After the run, participants joined others waiting at the bookstore for presentations by McDougall, Orton and Blende. Orton explained to the audience that “running is jumping” and demonstrated that fact quite clearly. When we jump, we land on the balls of our feet. Yet the thick-soled shoes that have dominated the market for the last three decades tend to encourage a much heavier heel strike than the forefoot strike that comes naturally to a barefoot or minimally shod runner. Running becomes less about jumping and more about jarring, which is not good for the feet, knees or hips.

McDougall picked up on that theme and talked about how running is not about technology – the shoes one wears or doesn’t wear – but about technique. Since the 1970s, when thick-soled shoes with all manner of purported advantages began catching on, McDougall says shoes have been trying to overwhelm technique with technology.

McDougall cited the research of Dr. Daniel Lieberman at Harvard, published in the journal Nature in early 2010. Lieberman and his research team focused on the collisional mechanics of different kinds of foot strikes and explained why barefoot or minimally shod people can land on the hardest of surfaces without discomfort – forefoot landing does not generate the sudden impact transients generated by landing on the heels.

The Naked Tour resumes Sunday with two events Los Angeles. At 1 p.m., legendary runner Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton will lead a barefoot running workshop at A Runner’s Circle, which will include some trail-running in nearby Griffith Park. At 5 p.m., the running-related fun moves to West Hollywood’s Book Soup, where ultra-marathon superstar Scott Jurek will join McDougall and Orton at the Naked Cabaret. Marshall Lewy, the screenwriter working with actor and debut director Peter SarsgaardPeter Sarsgaard to adapt “Born to Run” for the screen, is also scheduled to be at the Book Soup event.

After L.A., other stops on the tour include Cambridge, Mass., on April 15; Boston on April 16; Fairhope, Ala., on April 26; Hattiesburg, Miss., on April 27; Asheville, N.C., on April 29; Miami on April 30; Boulder, Colo., on May 1; Salt Lake City on May 3; Wayzata/Long Lake, Minn. on June 4 and New York City on June 10-11.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES:

http://www.chrismcdougall.com/

Eric Orton’s website

Sunny Blende’s website

Barefoot Ken Bob’s website

Dr Daniel Lieberman’s barefoot running page at Harvard

borntorun.org

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