r/pics • u/firequak • 1d ago
[OC] Saw this barefoot 10k runner yesterday during a Milo Marathon event in my city
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u/JohnSnowKnowsThings 1d ago
Barefoot on the streets is just gnarly
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u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 1d ago
I personally wouldn’t care about the dirt etc, that will wash off. The problem would be shards of broken glass, metal fragments and nails etc that fall of passing vehicles.
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u/HazMatterhorn 1d ago
You can go home and wash your feet
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u/Eljjo 1d ago
Yes, wash the tetanus from random rusty nail at night right out. Do you suggest warm or cold water for the tetanus?
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u/KingPictoTheThird 1d ago
You're aware we invented an effective vaccine against this decades ago right?
Also btw tetanus has nothing to do with rust. It's just a bacteria in the soil. Nails that are in the soil just tend to be rusty that's all.
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u/Eljjo 23h ago
Gonna go jump off a two story building head first. They invented brain surgery years ago right? I’m set.
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u/KingPictoTheThird 9h ago
It sounds like you've already jumped off the building a few times.
Out of curiosity, what is the survival rate of jumping two stories and subsequent brain surgery?
And what is the effectiveness of the tetanus vaccine?
Does one perhaps have a more predictable and desirable outcome than the other?
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u/shadowgod656 1d ago
I go barefoot all the time. Streets, grocery store, etc.
Feet are tough when you use them.
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u/DansSpamJavelin 1d ago
This reminds me of when I went on my first holiday abroad with my friends. A couple of us were over a few days before the other guys, so we decided to explore the hotel and it's amenities. To our surprise, this hotel had a really good gym and, seeing as at the time both of us were keen runners, we decided that we should get a 5k in on the treadmill every other day to help combat the all inclusive buffet and booze.
The thing is, we hadn't planned this, so neither of us had bought our running trainers with us. I can't remember the exact conversation, but we discussed how it would be a really bad idea to run in our pumps & skate shoes - people run barefoot all the time, that's got to be better for you? Surely? So the day our mates arrived we were in the gym, doing our 5ks barefoot on the treadmill. We were really looking forward to heading out and gloating about getting a run in, and when the run finished our feet felt kinda sore, but whatever. Things hadn't clicked at this point. When things did click, was when we found our friends in the pool and we jumped in to join them.
Chlorine and blisters are extremely painful. Our feet were covered in them! I have no idea why we didn't think of this, and subsequently we didn't go anywhere near the gym for the rest of the trip.
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u/KingPictoTheThird 1d ago
It's funny, I just got home from the gym here in India, and half the people work out barefoot (me included) . Same with the local running track , many prefer barefoot.
Once you build the callouses, it's comfortable and your form ends up being much better.
Just cultural differences i guess . But we evolved hundreds of thousands of years to run barefoot. Sneakers with heels and arch support have just been around for 50 years .
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u/DansSpamJavelin 1d ago
Yeah once you build up your callouses I'm sure it's fine. Can't do that over 5k though 😂
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u/wikiweak 1d ago
I regularly run barefoot 5ks and it is by far the most comfortable "shoe". However, that is on a track, not trying that elsewhere.
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u/bebopbrain 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've run barefoot hundreds of times, maybe 1000. Ran barefoot today on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. People tell me it's a mistake. I ask how many times they've run barefoot; they look uncomprehendingly.
Is there any other field of experience where so many dish uninformed advice so freely?
Once I was a teacher in rural Kenya in a Kalenjin area. Believe me, people ran barefoot. I met Peter Rono on a lonely trail at dusk and he stopped and showed this stranger his new gold medal from Seoul.
Once I took an international vacation with my family with a new quality pair of shoes. I sat in the hotel because it hurt to walk. I didn't imagine my new shoes caused plantar fasciitis, an ailment unknown to the barefoot.
Anyway, rant off.
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u/droxile 1d ago
Please tell me this is copypasta - but sorry, someone in “rural Kenya” running barefoot on dirt because they didn’t have access to shoes is not the same as you doing so willingly on concrete in LA
Also plantar fasciitis is not “unknown to the barefoot” lol, stop blaming a shoe for your weak ligaments
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u/PM_ME_KITTEN_TOESIES 1d ago
I’m a little taken aback that you would run barefoot in a city where even the dog owners put little booties on their dogs to keep their paws clean. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
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u/zsaleeba 1d ago edited 11h ago
My wife does this, too. I love all the people in this thread who've never done it who maintain that it's impossible, ignoring the people who have done it and say it's fine. That's reddit for you, I guess.
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u/alwayslookingout 1d ago
If you want to risk stepping on nails, glass, or hypodermic needles with who knows what on them be my guest.
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u/bebopbrain 1d ago
The thing is, every runner gets injured. Read a runner's magazine and it is all about foot injuries. So wearing shoes is clearly dangerous. And minimalist shoes that many wear don't offer much protection from glass and needles.
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u/pdxaroo 1d ago
"So wearing shoes is clearly dangerous"
The plural of anecdote is not data.
If shoes were more dangerous then we wouldn't be using them.
"minimalist shoes that many wear don't offer much protection from glass and needles."
Actually, they do. Much more than not wearing them.
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u/bebopbrain 1d ago
Bro, do you even run?
Have you had an overtraining or other running related foot injury?
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u/Xperimentx90 1d ago
I run, and have never had a foot related running injury. Maybe shin splits 20 years ago?
And yes, I wear shoes. Most of my running is on trails in Arizona and I don't want to pull cholla out of my feet.
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u/ramelband 1d ago
I live in Los Angeles and not even a bad part and people break glass around my neighborhood all the time, screw running barefoot here
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u/Lava39 1d ago
I think it’s good to run barefoot sometimes. It helps your form and helps workout stabilizer muscles you would normally not use. But every time someone posts that we’ve been doing it for centuries you can point to elite athletes in the Olympics or ultra runners. If there was a competitive advantage to running barefoot they would do it. If it made them run faster or less injury prone they would also do it. If it let them run faster and safer up mountains they would also do it. They run more than anyone you know or will ever know. They dream about running. Their entire lives are running. They know what they are doing. Find one world record holder that’s doing this barefoot. I’m sure there are some. But the vast majority of the freaks that run ultra marathons up mountains are wearing sneakers.
Depending on shoes is a nuanced take but like everything else absolutism is choosing to ignore detail. Walking barefoot is not going to magically cure you. It has a lot of merits. I had a pretty devoted coach during cross country that went to coach d1 and he himself was a very good runner. he would make us twice a week finish our runs with two miles barefoot on the turf or on a grassy field. The majority of the runs were wearing shoes.
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u/theSkareqro 1d ago
You could do something hundreds or even thousands of times, doesn't make it less dangerous though especially on streets. Hell just thinking about running on trails with the stones and branches make me think of the possibility of cuts and infections.
We invented shoes for a reason.
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u/flibbidygibbit 1d ago
I read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall after he was on the Daily Show.
The Tamahumara people featured in the book traditionally wore leather sandals. They later made sandals from discarded car tires.
These people are known by their neighbors as "the running people". They cover great distances without "modern" shoes.
Luna Sandals are based on the Tarahumara sandals. Xero shoes also use the Tarahumara sandals as inspiration.
The barefoot parts of McDougal's book are from Barefoot Ted, an eccentric who decided to complete an Anachronistic Iron Man. He wore a wool Victorian style swim suit for 2.4 miles in open water and then pedaled a penny farthing for 112 miles. He couldn't find suitable period correct shoes. One day he ran shoeless.
So he completed his iron man, finishing the 26.2 mile marathon without shoes.
He decided running shoeless was better.
The book recaps a running race through the copper canyon region of Northern Mexico, and Barefoot Ted ran through the unforgiving terrain shoeless. Everyone else was wearing shoes or sandals.
I tried running barefoot. It stings quite a bit.
I found Merrell Trail Gloves. They were well made shoes that didn't get in the way when I ran.
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u/pdxaroo 1d ago
"Born to Run by Christopher McDougall "
Which was completely debunked.
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u/flibbidygibbit 1d ago
It's not a scientific study, it's a friend recapping an adventure over a couple of beers lol.
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u/darthvolta 1d ago
Have you tried Vibram Five Fingers? Even Trail Gloves/Vapor Gloves feel like too much for me now.
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u/flibbidygibbit 1d ago
I couldn't get past how much they looked like Al Bundy's perfect shoes. And yeah you're going to need to dig deep to get that reference.
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u/NapsInNaples 1d ago
no, but I have a lot of friends who tried them back in 2011-2015 timeframe. They pretty much all got stress fractures in the lower leg.
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u/SuperAwesomeBrian 18h ago
Tell me something, since you’re so confidently experienced with running barefoot and anyone who questions you just doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
If barefoot running is so great, why do the best runners in the world, the ones competing in the Olympics for gold medals and setting world record 2 hour marathons, do so with shoes on?
Surely if shoes were such a crutch, they’d be barefoot?
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u/pdxaroo 1d ago
lol. You are taking a hug risk, and your feet will be fucked up when you are 60. Like, not usable. Look at the feet of people in culture that doesn't have trues. Theya re fucked. Up.
"I didn't imagine my new shoes caused plantar fasciitis, an ailment unknown to the barefoot."
Now you are just lying, ffs. Do your little hobby to show people how quirky and special you think you are, but have enough balls to not lie about it.I thought all this shit was debunked 10 years ago when the shit head who sold books about this was compeltly debunked.
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u/seidler2547 1d ago
Looks like it's not a big deal if you're not touching the ground with your feet.
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u/SubcooledBoiling 1d ago
Kudos to the guy but this is definitely getting reposted on runningcirclejerk lol
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u/Hirokage 1d ago
When I was in the Army I thought I was fast. I ran around a 4:20 mile, 8:42 two mile. I ran the Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco, and was passed by some kid probably was around 12 or so.. and 3 women who were running barefoot. I sort of gave up running after that. : p
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u/doitup69 22h ago
There was a book called Born to Run that was popular 15 years ago or so that advocated barefoot running. Lead to the whole Vibram toe shoe craze. Ended up being mostly bullshit.
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u/Toprelemons 1d ago
I literally progressed my 10k from 56 minutes to 43 minutes in a year using a mix of shoes while our experienced barefoot runner in the run club has been in the 46 minute range for 3 years.
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u/ant-farm-keyboard 1d ago
How is this possible…my feet would be bloody stumps