It's you... Not Me

Not that I'm against fads altogether - I've partaken in my share of them - but this is one I can agree to disagree with. After passing the 10 mile mark since starting my {tri}training all over again, I came across the following article in the Wall Street Journal Online: Baring Their Soles: Pain Doesn't Defeat Unshod Marathoners (you must pay to read) and laughed when I finished reading it.

The gist of the story is that a number of hard core marathoners are shunning their shoes and running barefoot because they believe it is better for them and will improve their running times. The argument is that shoes may be the cause of weakening of foot muscles and (potentially) long term injuries (only one is cited: plantar fasciitis). I have seen this type of argument used before - in particular with weightlifting and the use of a weight belt. People do, indeed, overuse support belts, etc. to the point where never really "teach" their supporting muscles how to deal with the stress of a given activity or workout. (If you've ever been consistent with any type of sports activity and gone for a long period of time before starting again, you'll notice that it's all the muscles you didn't know you had that cause the pain and not necessarily the larger muscle groups. While not a scientific statement by any stretch of the imagination, this is a possible example of what I am referring to above.)
Having sold shoes for a good number of my teen years, though, I don't buy the argument that some of the runners are using for going barefoot - i.e. that shoes cause more damage than provide protection. I don't have anything against anyone who wants to try to learn to run barefoot, but I do think it is a stretch to make the statement that we would be better off running barefoot.

"A lot of this shoe support stuff just makes your foot lazy and puts your foot muscles to sleep," says Dr. Irene Davis, a biomechanics researcher and director of the University of Delaware's Running Injury Clinic.

The issue of mechanics is mentioned a few times and I don't necessarily agree with that side of argument either. If people are taking the time to find a pair of shoes that fits their running style, weight and training style/plan, it is hard to believe that they will cause themselves harm over the long term. Like tools in a workshop, the right tool for the job is essential.
If you took a softie like me and pushed me out onto the streets to run barefoot, I'd never run again. Having burned the hell out of my foot once with a cigarette butt, I am well aware of the risks involved in going barefoot (something I do often at home and in areas that permit) and prefer to keep something between my feet and the ground.

I tested the theory that less is more at a time I had been running regularly by buying a pair of the Nike Frees (also mentioned in the article as an example of a shoe or slipper designed to help people wishing to eventually go barefoot).

I was not happy when I returned home. Firstly, the run I went on was on solid concrete and a distance that simply was too far to go the first time out in a pair of shoes like those. Secondly, my knees ached for hours and my back was sore the next day. Perhaps my experience was the extreme, but I learned an important lesson: use the right tool for the job (say it ten times). I was neither ready for the distance I went in those shoes, nor did I pay attention to the way I ran so as to minimize any damage I did to myself. I can only imagine the following happening to me:

Paul Keeley, a U.S. Marine at the South Carolina Military School, wants to run the Boston Marathon unshod next year. Last summer, he began training by pounding the streets of Charleston, S.C., in combat boots, hoping to nurture some preliminary calluses. He took off the boots this fall but soon landed on a surgeon's table for an abscess in his middle toe that required draining. Mr. Keeley, 18, says his calluses had hardened so well that he felt no pain when a pine needle or some other sharp object penetrated his skin and worked its way to the bone. He says he's still on track with his barefoot-in-Boston plan.

While not completely against this latest fad, I would personally caution anyone thinking that running barefoot makes you a better person. I can see doing it when the timing is right and the environment sensible (try running barefoot in the middle of winter in Wisconsin). The article ends with a quote with which I could not agree more:

Not all runners are barefoot believers. "I'm sticking to my Asics Tigers," says Neil Murphy, a New York attorney who tried running without shoes through the streets of Brooklyn earlier this year after a friend recommended it. A barrage of nicks, cuts and bruises led him to declare recently, "Humans are too far up the evolutionary chain to be trying this kind of stuff."

via Baring Their Soles: Pain Doesn't Defeat Unshod Marathoners - WSJ.com