Reporter’s File – Barefoot Running

KBIA’s Brad Fischer reflects on his experience investigating the phenomenon of barefoot running… and takes a lap around the MU campus on nothing but the soles of his feet.

I first became interested in doing a story about barefoot running when I read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall in the fall. McDougall details the increase in running injuries over the last 30 years, and he concludes that the modern running shoe is to blame. The heavy padding and support has allowed people to run by landing their heel first, which places much more stress upon the joints and ligaments. The shoe’s padding dulls the pain that a runner would feel when running with improper form, allowing them to run themselves into an injury. Therefore, the author, as well as many others have gone to barefoot running.

A lot of what McDougall wrote made sense, but I was skeptical. This story gave me a chance to find out a little more information about barefoot running. This is important to me because I am a runner. I ran my first marathon in St. Louis last year, two half-marathons in the fall, and I am entered in Sunday’s GO! St. Louis Marathon. I ran all these races in shoes, but during my seven years of running, I have also had a stress fracture and several other common running injuries.

My first interview was with Rick Roeber, a near-legend in the barefoot running community. He has run more than 50 marathons without shoes, and he has not suffered a blister in years. He really squashed a lot of common fears, like getting cut by objects on the road, blistering, stress fractures, and more.

This made my interview with Dr. Thomas Brant, a podiatrist at University Hospital even more surprising. Brant was in opposition to running with or without shoes, unless you have “the perfect body.” The barefoot runners know that not many doctors agree with their practice, but they believe in it because they say that barefoot running makes runners run the way they did before shoes existed. Barefoot runners have to land lighter, and on their forefoot instead of their heel.

There is an in-between option for runners who like the idea, but aren’t ready to go without shoes. For runners who want the barefoot experience, without actually putting their soles on the asphalt, there are Vibram FiveFingers. FiveFingers have rubber soles, and fit like a glove for the foot. So, I talked to an MU student Steven Mankofsky, who runs in Vibrams for about five of his 60 weekly miles.

Through all this, I decided I just had to give barefoot running a shot. I ran six miles barefoot around the MU campus. I felt lighter on my feet, just as the barefoot runners had said. I had a couple blisters, but it was fairly enjoyable. So, for now, I’ll stick to shoes, but I am going to begin incorporating barefoot running into my training over the summer.

-Brad Fischer

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