The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010 • Hacker News Board

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#121

Post by presentation » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 1:55 PM UTC

pandemic_region wrote: post #36

jyounker wrote: post #28

I'd alway been prone to avoiding shoes. I started running when I was 16 (1986). During high school I'd run 10-14 miles a night about five days a week, mostly barefoot. I didn't start regularly wearing shoes until after college. Since I started wearing shoes there has been a significant change in my foot structure. My big toes have moved outward by at least 10 degrees. Before then they were directly in-line with the b…

For a couple of years, there was this barefoot guy who commuted on the same train as me to work. No matter the season, always barefoot. I must say, purely from a hygiene perspective, it felt uncomfortable looking at his feet. They were dirty and dusty in the same way shoes would pick up dirt. What do your feet look like today ? Honest question.

I’m more worried about stepping on something sharp.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#122

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:05 PM UTC

presentation wrote: post #121

pandemic_region wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a couple of years, there was this barefoot guy who commuted on the same train as me to work. No matter the season, always barefoot. I must say, purely from a hygiene perspective, it felt uncomfortable looking at his feet. They were dirty and dusty in the same way shoes would pick up dirt. What do your feet look like today ? Honest question.

I’m more worried about stepping on something sharp.

I try to go barefoot as often as I can, and my bigger concern in crowds is getting my feet stepped on.

Paradoxically, I am very paranoid about injuring my toes - so walking around doesn't concern me (at worst, I'll step on something pointy and will need a bandaid), but losing another toenail because someone kicks me with a hard shoe is something I dread.

Also: I would absolutely never, ever go barefoot in a big city, which is defined by being big enough to have a train. Stepping on a sharp rock or thorn is one thing; stepping on someone's broken beer bottle and then hiking through all the wonderful fluids that cities accumulate sounds like a nightmare and a free trip to the hospital to get pumped full of every antibiotic known to humanity.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#123

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:07 PM UTC

eggy wrote: post #101

persedes wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, but you probably also won't wash your feet several times a day going in / out?

I lived in Java, Indonesia for a year and ran barefoot, and only wore sandals to the mosque. You wash your feet 5x per day for the 5 daily obligatory prayers, so it works out well. An earlier post here about a person barefoot in all seasons and on the subway train, well, that's another story. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 60s through the 80s, and I can't see that at all. But then again, NYC is a lot cleaner now than i…

I once saw someone walking around barefoot in Hell's Kitchen.

"That's a dumb idea," I said to myself.

Minutes later, I saw them walking out of a bodega, using a handful of napkins to staunch the blood coming out of their foot.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#124

Post by matthewowen » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:11 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #58

genghisjahn wrote: post #20

I read Born to Run and loved it. I never did the barefoot running thing. I just started running. That was four years ago. Weight is down. BP is down. A1C in the middle of normal. It’s done wonders. There’s a passage in there about how humans have evolved to run that’s fascinating. Made me realize maybe we are naturals at running.

Was is David Attenborough's "Planet Earth"? There was a bit about a tribe that hunt antelope or some other kind of herd animal. After separating one from the herd, the human eventually "outruns" it. Not in speed but just tenacity, endurance — the animal eventually collapses. Blew my mind that we could do that.

It's in Born to Run.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#125

Post by jkhdigital » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:13 PM UTC

tejohnso wrote: post #71

I remember running down the street and back with my new vibram 5 fingers just to try them out. The next day my calves were so sore I could barely walk. I couldn't wait to do it again. I've since moved on to minimalist runners with a flat thin sole and wide toe area. Unfortunately I ended up stepping on a small sharp pebble at one point and have a very hard and sometimes painful area of tough skin on the pad of my foo…

Hah! I had a more or less identical experience after getting my first pair in 2008. Went out to the track, jogged a single lap, and that was enough. Calves were absolutely wrecked the next day. Four years later I ran my first marathon (3:54) in them.

17 years later they are still the only shoes I ever wear for running or working out. And I have bigger calves than anyone in my local CrossFit gym

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#126

Post by SEJeff » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:15 PM UTC

Even as a non-runner, I found Born to Run to be a fantastic book and was a really captivating story. I ended up buying vibrams for hiking and LOVE them.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#127

Post by jkhdigital » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:19 PM UTC

virtualritz wrote: post #11

I bought a pair of the original Vibram Five Fingers while living in London, 2007/2008. It was more out of curiosity than anything. They were displayed in a shop window in Spitalfields and looked bizarre in an appealing way. I was never a runner/jogger. But I do walk a lot. Especially in summer. For example, if something is 20 walking minutes away and public transport takes 15, I walk. I wore the Five Fingers all summ…

Exact same experience—first pair from 2008 lasted over three years of heavy use (running on mostly pavement) and each replacement has barely survived one or two years.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#128

Post by MisterTea » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:22 PM UTC

pandemic_region wrote: post #36

jyounker wrote: post #28

I'd alway been prone to avoiding shoes. I started running when I was 16 (1986). During high school I'd run 10-14 miles a night about five days a week, mostly barefoot. I didn't start regularly wearing shoes until after college. Since I started wearing shoes there has been a significant change in my foot structure. My big toes have moved outward by at least 10 degrees. Before then they were directly in-line with the b…

For a couple of years, there was this barefoot guy who commuted on the same train as me to work. No matter the season, always barefoot. I must say, purely from a hygiene perspective, it felt uncomfortable looking at his feet. They were dirty and dusty in the same way shoes would pick up dirt. What do your feet look like today ? Honest question.

There was a dude in my old Queens NYC neighborhood who was a local fixture. His job was distributing flyers, you'd see him walking along the business districts in and out of stores placing his flyers. Didn't matter what time of year it was, he wore the same outfit almost every day: wind breaker, tee shirt or tank top, short shorts, and bare foot. Dude even took the A train bare foot - something I would never do.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#129

Post by alistairSH » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:22 PM UTC

I was a bit late to the barefoot trend, probably more like 2015. Oh well, I've never been one of the cool kids, why start now?

Anyway, I ended up loving barefoot shoes for walking the dog, light hiking, etc. But for actual running? Not so much.

I like a low stack, low drop shoe for tempo and speed work. And a moderate stack, moderate drop for distance runs.

And I absolutely can't stand higher stack stuff... I want to like some of the newer "super shoes" for racing, but they're so tall... I feel like I'm going to twist an ankle.

Re: The Great Barefoot Running Hysteria of 2010

#130

Post by lores » Tue, Mar 25, 2025, 2:22 PM UTC

dominicq wrote: post #26

I don't think it's fallacious to appeal to nature. Sure, not all things natural are good for you (deadly viruses etc.). But when you have something that works for millennia, and has been optimized (by evolution) for that specific purpose, making changes to that specific thing is likely to ignore the context in which that specific thing was created. It's like trying to change a legacy software system with no documenta…

Definitely true. Most people walk/run on flattish, hard surfaces (roads and paths) most of the time, though, which is a change significant enough from what we evolved with that I'm not entirely sure the null hypothesis holds.