A few weeks ago, Travis Lee from WMTW 8 News came out to our Tuesday Night Trail Run with a camera and a wireless mic. The story ran tonight on the 6:00 news:
After putting on the largest barefoot/minimalist race in the country a few months ago, Maine is getting some attention as an area friendly to barefoot running. Which is rather humorous given how long our winters are…
Travis did some quick interviews after our run and then shot a bit of footage of us running barefoot (although I kept my huaraches on) and then edited in some of Jamie Anderson’s excellent footage from barefoot race at Pineland Farms. You can watch the story here:
This is good exposure for the minimalist movement for sure. Of course I believe in the benefits of minimalist running as I do most of my running in Newton's, and I find that the other shoes I prefer have a "minimalist" heel and/or a low heel-to-toe drop (re: Brooks Green Silence, Saucony Kinvara). My own story is one of how changing my running style and developing proper form have turned around my nagging repetitive use injuries and strengthened my running all around.
After doing some barefoot running on the beach this past week, I've developed the courage to go ahead and venture into the Vibram Five Fingers arena. I may even make myself a pair of huaraches!
The huaraches are great, I got an invisible shoe kit a few months ago. I prefer those to the five fingers for running (but I like the five fingers as my "every day walk around shoe") since the huaraches give you a much better feel for the ground. I think the five fingers take away too much, so even though you have a better connection than you would with normal trainers it's easier to run too far too fast or too long too early in them.
ReplyDeleteSo, that said, I recommend just going barefoot and learning to run barefoot first, before using five fingers or huaraches.
Thanks for the mention!