For years I thought I was not built to run. In the military, I was often found behind the pack. It wasn’t because I weren’t in shape. I trained like the rest. As if life had dealt me a terrible hand – the hunched back of the running world.
I had the awkward stride; my bottom half looks as it was trying to race with my top. A few minutes into any run, my top leans forward as if for the last ditch effort to past the ticker tape. It is an unusual form. It is how I ran. Well, at least until now, the secret might be out. The truth it was said all along, ‘it’s the shoes’; lose it and your form will improve; naturally.
October 5, 2009, 12:01 AM
The Roving Runner Goes Barefoot
By BRIAN FIDELMANPhoto by Vijai Singh/The New York Times
“My running form changed immediately. I was landing gently on the middle and balls of my feet rather than striking with my heel. I was more upright than before. My stride was shorter. I didn’t make any changes consciously; they just seemed to happen on their own.”
“My bad habits are so close to the surface that it’s really helpful for me to be in bare feet because it keeps me honest,” Christopher said. “When I wear shoes I get really sloppy, my form is all over the place. When I’m in my bare feet, I’m instantly reminded how to get upright and how to have a quick, light landing.” The full article here.
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