Sacramento Running News

People seem to either love or hate, or love to hate, Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run and fierce advocate of minimalist running.

He recently wrote an article for New York Times magazine about an interesting exercise, called “100 ups,” that he believes will help your running.

In the article, McDougall recognizes the important fact that people can, and do run barefoot and still have terrible form.

Here’s the video. I’d be interested to hear back from anyone who tries the exercises.

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Like most people, I have thousands of songs on my iPod, but one of the things I enjoy the most about it is being able to save and listen to audio books and interesting podcasts.

Recently, a friend sent me a link to Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge interviews and stories about running.

They include Christopher McDougall talking about the Tarahumara, Gretchen Reynolds on running myths, Jason Robillard on barefoot running, and Jim Fleming reading from novelist Haruki Murakami’s “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.”

Tasty treats for your ears when you’re on long lonely runs, or on long airplane rides and would rather be running. Enjoy!

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If you read this website regularly, you’ll know that while I do like to make fun of barefoot running zealots, I’m actually supportive of some amount of barefoot running.

What I’m nervous about is the lack of solid science about what it’s good for and what it’s not going to help.

Thankfully, in large part due to the enthusiasm engendered by Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, there is a growing body of science regarding the ins and outs of barefoot versus shod running.

There is also a growing body of medical anecdotes about injury rates and barefoot running zombies who are ready to shout down any nay-sayers. (Of course, there are also anti-barefoot running zealots, too.)

The New York Times Well blog has a nice wrap-up of current science. Here’s the money quote: (more…)