Uni-Watch: The Barefoot Revolution

stupid socks. short shorts.

Remember how my buddy Jonah complained about short shorts, claiming that at the greatest athletic achievement in his life had been tarnished by a pair of "doofy ass shorts"? I did. So when I was meeting him for the end of my run on Saturday morning I changed my outfit. Instead of short shorts and long socks, I went with a much manlier fashion of tights.

Much to my surprise, as I finished my tempo run (I had a 25 minute tempo in the middle of my long run...I met Jonah for my cooldown), I saw him prancing around Central Park in black short shorts and Nike Frees. Luckily, it was cold and windy, so I didn't mind having the tights on.

I hadn't run with Slowns in a while. He has been over in London doing real world stuff like his job. But we jogged for 5 and half miles together where I thought he was hammering and he thought I was hammering. We both staggered through some 6:30 miles before talking ourselves into slowing it down. But back to the Frees Jonah was wearing. They're Nike's version of the barefoot shoe. I've had a few pairs and liked them alright (but just for walking around). And to no surprise, he started wearing them very soon after reading "Born To Run."

I'll give "Born To Run" its due, because it is pretty sweet book. At one point it had me wanting to leave civilization and go run through the mountains. But the barefoot stuff that is going on because of the book is stupid. I'm all for minimalist running, I think it is great to have strong feet and everything, but when I see someone running through Central Park with no shoes on in the freezing cold weather, I get a little upset.

Those Vibram 5-Finger shoes look creepy, but at least they're going to cover your feet. If you're running barefoot in Central, you are pretty much asking to step on a piece of broken glass, horse droppings, or a drug needle. And when there's snow everywhere, what in the ham sandwich are you thinking?

But the main reason I hate barefoot running is because, in reference to his "frees", Slownah kept claiming how awesome it was to run once he "freed" himself.

He then told me how much his calves hurt.

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A few non-related updates:

--February has seen the highest viewership for runLBP...we are already at 899 visitors for the month...the highest month was this July when I was posting daily from Amsterdam. The Detroit piece saw the most action as the site saw over a 100 visitors for two straight days when it was posted.

--Look for a pre-HEPS post come Friday.

--Still getting ready for the Columbia Last Chance meet to close out the indoor season...Either running a 1k or an 800 on March 5th!