Rich on Running: Barefoot running book is a real page-turner

So far, the only time I’ve run barefoot was on the warm sand of Smathers Beach in Key West last year. However, other people are trying it a lot more often.”Barefoot Running Step by Step,” a 239-page guidebook by co-authors Ken Bob Saxton and Roy M. Wallack, has recently come out. Meanwhile, running enthusiasts will celebrate International Barefoot Runnng Day on Sunday, May 1, and the activities include a workshop and fun run (9 a.m. start) at Lake Quanapowitt in Wakefield.Saxton is described in the book as “One of the most recognized runners in the world, with his dense beard, long hair, and, of course, bare feet.” As of this January, he has run 78 marathons ? one shod and the rest barefoot (he has done the Boston Marathon several times).”I ran (a marathon) in shoes in 1987; it was a lifetime goal to finish one,” Saxton said on Monday. “I did not realize I could have done it barefoot. My feet felt completely raw except for the soles, and I felt there was basically no reason to do this again.”I started running barefoot for fun, to stay in shape, 10, 11 years later. I was doing 20-some miles on gravelly trails in the foothills of California. I (figured) I might as well do marathons.”The book he co-wrote with fitness journalist Wallack is aimed at those who might be curious about barefoot running. In one of the “Ken Bob-isms” that pepper its pages, Saxton says, “I don’t like to generalize by saying that ‘everyone should run barefoot.’ So I’ll just say that everyone with feet who wants to learn to run the way we are designed to run should run barefoot.”As my girlfriend once remarked, we seem to naturally take our shoes off when we go into our house. Taking the plunge into a barefoot run, however, might require some preparation.”Listen to your soles,” Saxton said. “Learn to run more gently. You learn a little bit in minimalist shoes, but it’s like wearing a thinner blindfold when driving a car.”He seems to regard running shoes in general as the equivalent of a blindfold on the feet, saying in the book that “they can wreck your knees, ankles, hips and back, as well as slow you down.”Perhaps surprisingly, he comes down on “barefoot shoes” or “minimalist shoes” a bit.”If you remove the support of traditional running shoes, your foot is weakened,” he said. “A lot of people wearing barefoot or minimalist shoes have stress fractures in their feet.”What might make some people squeamish about barefoot running is stepping on sharp objects. Saxton suggested that people’s feet and legs know how to adapt.”On sharp, rocky stones, your feet will go limp and your knees (will be) bent,” he said. “Your first response is to tense up, and that won’t help.”As for that other problem, ticks?”I heard people complain,” he said. “They seem to attack ankles (of people in shoes). They’re in bushes and things, not sitting on the surface.”Available online (Amazon and Barnes & Noble) and at select bookstores, “Barefoot Running Step by Step” is an intriguing read, and it just may convince me to leave my New Balance shoes inside and run barefoot again someday.Rich Tenorio writes a weekly column on running for The Item. Email him at [email protected].