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A few weeks ago, one of my long-time runner-patients came in to get a second pair of orthotics made from me. Her first pair had lasted 23 years and she was in for an update. She always runs in traditional running shoes, as do nearly all my other patients.

In discussing barefoot running with this patient, who has been running ultra-marathons for over 25 years, she told me a story about a barefoot runner who had wanted to get an entry into the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (across the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains, from Squaw Valley to Auburn) by running barefoot over the snow in 2010. This barefoot runner, who is well-known (according to the camera crew he brought along with him) never finished even this one day training run while barefoot. I'm sure that if he finished the run in the snow we would be hearing all about it on the barefoot running websites and this runner's own website. But since he literally was begging for a ride after a few hours of running barefoot in the snow, I suppose the film never saw the light of day. Why does this type of nonsense not surprise me one bit considering the history of self-promotion from many of the "famous" barefoot runners?!

Anyway, here is the story given to me by my patient (she asked her name not be used) about the barefoot runner who got cold feet trying to run the Western States Trail barefoot. He thought he was famous, but in the end, he just looked stupid trying to run barefoot through the snow when everyone else, with better common sense, wore shoes.

 

How "weak" were her feet? ;););)

 

Oh come on gents. We all know the "weak-foot" era of foot biomechanics was from the late 1800's to the early 1930's, after which the "foot balance" era became the predominant paradigm of the day. I think we might have moved on since then. Right? ;)