Thread killer ..
None.
I grew up in San Diego and spent a good majority of my childhood non-school days barefoot . I rode my horses barefoot, ran everywhere barefoot . I can remember the most painful blisters from hot pavement and beach sand . At some point I started wearing shoes more than going barefoot . The last time I remember was a hike in the desert in my early 20's I think I had on the wrong type of shoes and just took them off . Last year I had just spent an hour dragging my riding arena and 1/2 mile riding track, the footing was perfect, I took off my shoes and ran around for @2 miles , it was fun. I later read on a barefoot forum you shouldn't do that . I didn't have any pain or strain because of it my feet just got really dirty . I haven't done it since but under the same perfect conditions I just might .
I know of a number of people trying it in real life (at least 8-10)
Of those, two have been doing it without injury since I've known them (3+ years)
The others have all been quite successful, to the best of my knowledge.
I should note, the people I know doing the barefoot thing actually have a company making huaraches sandals (it's a really tight-knit group, comprised of a couple of families).
Most of them have kids who've grown up wearing the sandals, or have been in them for a long time (10+ years) themselves, so i don't think it's that weird that not a lot of them have been injured. They've done it the right way. (they're all really nice, and not at all pushy of the barefoot lifestyle, at least to me)
I've been thinking about getting a pair of the sandals myself, just for wearing around the house, and some light hiking duties.
Trail and Ultra Running User Group
Faster Than Your Couch!
Except for Jamezilla (whom I don't know in person), I know 2 people who tried.
My husband's niece runs in VFF's on roads, she seems to do fine with it. She started out right away in the VFF's and has never worn any other shoes, about a year ago or so.
My running buddy tried several different minimalist shoes and ended up with PF, which cost him about a year of fun, he just was in pain on every run.
I have Brooks Pure Grits, which are more on the minimalist side, but not barefoot shoes. I like them and have no problem in them, but I don't wear them all the time, maybe on 10% of my miles (mostly because it's always wet somewhere on my trails, and the Pure Grits are just bad on wet rocks).
So it seems 1 person with no problems, 1 person with significant trouble.
Run for fun.
There's a large population of Old Order Mennonites in my area. There are a few of them who go barefoot all spring, summer and fall. These are adults, not children. They will work in the fields, ride bike and occasionally will be seen jogging on the road if they are going somewhere. The interesting thing is that you will see them with no shoes on but some of their children will have shoes on, so it's obviously a preference thing for them. And of course they've been doing that since childhood.
But back to the question. I don't know any runners that run barefoot, but then I don't know many runners and I've not been running very long.
Corollary survey:
1. How many runners do you know?
2. How many of those have never had a foot or Achilles injury?
I'm Holden McGruyen. Would you like to join me?
Sue
1. None
2. None
I ran A 100 yards on the beach barefoot, kick a cinder block and now my toe is black. I like shoes and I felt even minamalist shoes were not enough protection/padding. Add me top the old lady non ultra running group; opposite from where Northern is coming from.
05/13/23 Traverse City Trail Festival 25K
08/19/23 Marquette 50 dns 🙄
Well, I ran my first trail half marathon in VFFs, put lots of miles on them.
I ran about 6 miles a day barefoot on the beach for 5 days. Other than a small blister from hot sand, it was awesome.
Otherwise I only run on trails so barefoot is pretty much out. My injury came from trying to run in minimum without socks like I did in VFFs, much blood ...
I like shoes and I felt even minamalist shoes were not enough protection/padding. Add me top the old lady non ultra running group; opposite from where Northern is coming from.
+1
tbd.
I run about half of my miles barefoot and run the remainder in some form of minimalist footwear. I run my races in MT 110s. I don't encourage anyone to transition to BF running. If someone asks, I'll speak more to the risk of minimalist running and the need for a long slow transition. Typically I tell people, "If you are happy with your mileage in regular shoes, then don't change anything" but if someone is really struggling with injury then I'll tell them about my experience.
And then there was blog