How many people run barefoot?

[nikalas]

I'm very excited about the Inov-8 Baregrips that are coming out next spring....

[sore legs]

I dont get this bf running thing - I admit that I have not read up or into it but I could not think of anything worse

[andy k]

Going for a boring steady run? Try taking your shoes off for a spell in the middle, its superb.
It feels fun and free and you'll be surprised how much you enjoy the feeling.
I hate putting my shoes back on after.
I don't know anyone who hasn't loved it.

As far as I'm concerned if you are going to do it then run genuinely barefoot.
barefoot shoes !!?? eh ?
Given the point that there is no need to run barefoot 100% of the time then you can run truely barefoot when the ground allows it. You don't have to buy shoes and line the pockets of Innov-8 or Vibram so you can pretend to be barefoot.

Choose your ground to be safe and soft, try it and get confident (I started on the cricket club behind my house). Before long you'll find yourself pushing the boundaries and running over wood chip and rougher harder ground, eventually I ran up a mountain with plenty of rock stones and gravel (though not down it)

start with 3 or 4 minutes and over several weeks build up to 20. Do that 2 or 3 times a week and you've added a great new dimension to your running.
You can do your reps or hills barefoot.
It really just good fun.

(Also barefoot running is my personal cure for pulled calf muscles)

[SEFTON]

read "born to run" its a good read even if you dont like the idea!

[jhb0510]

Hi
I put I only run bare foot, but actually wear VFF Flow Treks. I do the last 1/2 mile of my run on tarmac completely barefoot. My feet are too girly to do the whole run bare foot as I have found that even nice soft grass seems to have nasty sharp thorns hidden in it. As my feet toughen up I intend to do more without VFFs. I have suffered with lower leg problems for years and the only way I have found to avoid injury is to run in minimal footwear. I am really looking forward to the level 1 cushioning inov8s that are coming out soon as I am hoping that I might be OK in those.
James

[noel]

As far as I'm concerned if you are going to do it then run genuinely barefoot.
barefoot shoes !!?? eh ?
Given the point that there is no need to run barefoot 100% of the time then you can run truely barefoot when the ground allows it. You don't have to buy shoes and line the pockets of Innov-8 or Vibram so you can pretend to be barefoot.

Couldn't agree more. I don't run barefoot, but I can't really get my head round the concept of barefoot shoes. It seems like an oxymoron to me.

"I went skinny dipping yesterday at my local pool... wearing my all-over speedo swim-suit"

[jhb0510]

I would agree barefoot shoes sounds daft, that is pehaps why minimal footwear makes more sense. I would say that they are there only to protect the feet from thorns, cuts etc and not to provide support.
I would disagree that there is no need to run bare foot (or in minimal footwear!) I have found over the last 20 years that if I put on any form of running shoe with cushioning I have ended up injured, to the point I had given up trying to run. The only way I have found to run without injury is in VFFs. I'm sure other minimal footwear would be as good, I just have not shelled out for anything else.
James

[IWCharters]

Just had a quick look at the poll and am amused by the choice "yes but only when the price of barefoot shoes drop". Something of a contradiction here?

If you only run barefoot some of the time, when the ground suits, when you feel like it or whatever and you have to buy another pair of shoes (that you didn't previously know you needed) to do it then it begins to seem like another wheeze (sorry, Wheeze) to sell more shoes. Walshes, Gladiators and other classic fell shoes provide very, very little cushioning, are almost as stable as bare feet but provide some protection as well as much, much more grip - Borrowdale in bare feet isn't really an option, is it?

But then Borrowdale in heavily cushioned road shoes isn't an option either and I find it hard to imagine doing 60-70 miles a week in bare feet (with or without barefoot shoes) so, while I don't doubt the book is a good read and the story about bare foot running clearly captures the imagination, I am still struggling to understand how it might help me or anyone improve their fell running and I also still struggle not to see the while thing as a huge and increasing successful marketing exercise not a million miles removed from selling kids toys that originated in a book or a film.

[Brotherton Lad]

It's an attractive concept and I keep meaning to have a go at strides on the big playing field behind us, but still haven't got round to it.
I did the last 2 miles of a cross country race in 1980 having lost a shoe and a sock in a swampy pig farm, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[noel]

I am still struggling to understand how it might help me or anyone improve their fell running and I also still struggle not to see the while thing as a huge and increasing successful marketing exercise not a million miles removed from selling kids toys that originated in a book or a film.

I want my Rob Jebb barefoot action toy. :wink: