Baring All
Some runners are gaining strength by going shoeless
Seattle Times, Sunday Magazine, August 7, 2005

There have been accomplished barefoot runners over the years. Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila won the first of consecutive Olympic Gold Medals in 1960 by finishing with a world record. And there was Zola Budd. But can we mortals handle it?

Many podiatrists and sports-medicine experts say that going barefoot for a bit can help build strength in the feet and calves, but people who take it to the extremes, such as marathons, are asking for trouble.
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Nike released this spring its Free 5.0, which, curiously, is barely a shoe (although it retails for $85). The Free was developed and is advertised as a way to reap the strength-training benefits of running barefoot, but doing so while protecting the foot from the vagaries of the urban jungle (glass, gum, rocks).

Nike's lab in Beaverton, Ore., studied the biomechanics of barefoot running and noticed wide differences between running with and without shoes. Without shoes, the foot strikes the ground in a far more neutral angle and the toes play a far greater role. The results, the company says, include a more even distribution of pressure.

Development of the shoe began three years ago, when a team of Nike designers were on a trip to Palo Alto and watched Stanford track athletes warming up barefoot.
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Dr. Brian McInness of the sports medicine clinic at Virginia Mason Medical Center says people with perfect biomechanics who train progressively should do fine with the shoes, but the shoes likely won't be "for the masses."
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In a recent article, Men's Journal describes the differences that come naturally when one runs barefoot. With shoes, you typically run with an upper body that is tall and straight. Your landing leg sets straight down in front of the torso and the heel strikes the ground first. Without shoes, your upper body takes a shorter posture, your landing leg stays beneath the torso and your forefoot, not your heel, strikes — lightly.

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