Hey all... I'm not dead!

Hey guys, just wanted to drop in and say hi and give everyone a friendly reminder. I'm currently not doing any sort of barefoot running-related clinics mostly because I needed a break and got hooked on a new hobby. I'm still doing very limited wok with friends that seek advice and have been doing shorter training runs barefoot, in huaraches, and in min. shoes. Living in the greater San Diego area certainly helps.

Regarding the reminder- the recent issue with the minimalist clinic put on by Running Fit in MI brought up a point that I generally like to avoid, but really needs to be addressed. As I was traveling the country conducting clinics, the single biggest obstacle I encountered was a universal and shockingly negative perception of barefoot runners. It's the "you guys are a fanatical cult" perception which almost always stems from a single encounter with a rude, pushy, or arrogant barefoot advocate.

I understand the passion behind this topic, but if you create a negative perception of barefoot runners, it REALLY hurts those of us that actually want to help the masses. My best advice:

1. Study up on what we really know and don't know about barefoot and minimalist shoe running. I still see A LOT of claims based on gross overgeneralizations being made. Anyone that's been around the running world for any length of time will immediately recognize them as such. I suggest reading Pete Larson and Bill Katovsky's book "Tread Lightly." Pete does an excellent job of explaining what the science really tells us.

2. Understand most people have zero interest in running barefoot, but some may do it if presented as a tool to help them run better. Framing the entire discussion as a running form issue is probably the most scientifically valid approach, and also the most effective means of persuasion.

3. Read "The Art of Seduction" and apply those principles to your attempts at selling the idea of barefoot running. Please (and I really mean PLEASE) stop using douchey "I'm right and you're wrong" methods. It turns away almost everyone and results in the rest of us cleaning up the mess.

In short, don't let your passion for the topic blind you to the reality of public perception. If you feel you always need to be right, don't do it in a public forum. I'm no longer actively teaching barefoot running or good form principles, but there are a lot of people that are and you're doing them a serious disservice.

That' all.

Carry on.
 
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Glad to know you are alive and doing well, in my home town!

I don't know what is being said by barefooters "out there" face-to-face to non-barefooters, because I don't encounter any other barefooters face-to-face, and I don't talk to anyone about barefoot running, unless they somehow find out who I am and they bring it up to me or show an interest. I always approach the conversation with "this is what [works] for me and it may not work for you especially if you are doing well in shoes," etc. [I haven't run in ages; still healing from all the surgeries I had to try to correct the problems that shoes did to me.] But from what I can tell you that is written here in the forums and chapters at the BRS, I don't get the same vibe you do, Jason. I don't see people acting superior to shoe-runners. Read this thread, brand new, to get a general idea of the vibe and flow that goes on here: Totally BF... Why?? As you can see, these are good people. People who love what they do and want to support others who have the same common interest.

I've been taking days off here and there running the BRS. As you can imagine, after carrying the load for four years, I need a break once in a while. I/we pretty much have the BRS running like a fine-oiled machine, so I can take those breaks now and again. Being gone over this past weekend, I was anxious to bring up the site and get to the admin stuff I do and read the posts that interest me, etc., etc. Upon going through my Alerts, I had an overwhelming feeling of L O V E. I thought, I think I need to say something to my BRS family about the way I am feeling when I have gone through the site. Then I read your post. Sure that may be true that some folks act, as you say, douchey, but none I know of here at the BRS. And if someone did say something wrong or out of context, perhaps they were just having a bad moment. We all do. I know I do. And I am sure you do too. It's part of being human. (I know LB apologized and agreed you were right and changed his post, and you know him. He's cool. He's a good person.)

Good book recommendations. I will look into those. Thanks!

Anyway, take care!
 
What about tackling people and stealing their shoes and then incinerating them? The shoes, not the people, I'm not that crass. Do you think stealing and burning their shoes would be too much?

Seriously though, in the few times I've had chances to talk with others about it, I just try to be relaxed about it all, say why I think there good reasons to go barefoot more often than we do in our culture and that for me I've found running to be much more fun and enjoyable since taking off the shoes. I don't think any of us are likely to ever convert someone right on the spot. My own conversion was drawn out and a big influence had been the tv show, Dual Survival, where I saw Cody Lundin going around barefoot. Seeing him got my mind mulling over the idea and seeing that ended up persuading me along with other things. It never involved Cody Lundin telling me that I had to take off my shoes and that I would be an utter foot to continue to wear them because of points 1 through 10 and evidence and science. I was persuaded by the exposure of seeing a person going around barefoot, a guy who seemed fairly chill and knowing what he was doing.

But if that fails, we just might have to resort to shoe stealing and burning. C'est la vie.
 
Hey guys, just wanted to drop in and say hi and give everyone a friendly reminder.

It's the "you guys are a fanatical cult" perception which almost always stems from a single encounter with a rude, pushy, or arrogant barefoot advocate.

In short, don't let your passion for the topic blind you to the reality of public perception. If you feel you always need to be right, don't do it in a public forum. I'm no longer actively teaching barefoot running or good form principles, but there are a lot of people that are and you're doing them a serious disservice.

That' all.

Carry on.
You've been gone too long Jason. Either everyone has mellowed out since you checked out, or you are misremembering things. Good to hear from you in any case. Miss your presence!

I was just in Corona, CA a few weeks ago. Almost took the kids to Seaworld in San Diego, but after several days of sightseeing, I needed a day off and didn't want to deal with southern Cali freeways. I love the climate though, you've chosen well; a veritable barefooter's paradise.
 
Hi Jason,

Good post and I get your direction, and agree. One thing I have noticed, is barefoot running has definitely dropped from popularity back the label of "fad". I could careless but it's just an observation. I hang out in the Marathon forum from time to time on Runnersworld, and notice the shift that barefoot running has taken. Now that the whole "Born to Run" era has completely fallen into oblivion, the curiosity of barefoot running has almost leveled off with people as well.
 
I wonder if there are really two kinds of barefoot runners: the obnoxious ones who go to gatherings of shoddies just to harass them vs. the hermit squirrels who've learned to type here on the forum.

A lot of BRS members come here, because we don't get the chance to interact with other runners (or people), (or squirrels). As such, many of us are quite invested in keeping BRS a friendly place (and even make contributions to the upkeep of the site).

You should come back here more often, out of the cold and unfriendly world, and share your experience with all of us. We appreciate you!
 
I have never seen or meet any obnoxious barefooters in real life or on the internet...Barefoot KenBob is the most ardent barefooter I've meet and ran with and he is pretty layed back and not pushy about it. Preston up in the Northeast is known to be a strict barefooter...maybe the most strict I've heard of. So Jason I'm not sure who these barefooters are your referring to would be....almost everyone I've heard of who bare-foots also wears min-shoes some of the time.
 
I totally agree, Mokie. :barefoot:
 
Hey all, I know it's rare (or even nonexistent) to see obnoxious dogma here, but it has existed and left a negative impression on folks. Maybe it was the SBL guys. :)

I'm hoping to check in a little more, but I've been immersed in various projects that are taking far more time than they should. As a funny sidebar- I'm training at an mma gym here in So Cal where we do everything barefoot. After about a year, some people finally discovered my "running persona" and were perplexed about the whole barefoot running experience... despite doing all of their physical activity barefoot. Pretty much everyone hates running, but I've gotten a few to try it barefoot. Unsurprisingly, they loved it. :)
 
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Hey all, I know it's rare (or even nonexistent) to see obnoxious dogma here, but it has existed and left a negative impression on folks. Maybe it was the SBL guys. :)

I'm hoping to check in a little more, but I've been immersed in various projects that are taking far more time than they should. As a funny sidebar- I'm training at an mma gym here in So Cal where we do everything barefoot. After about a year, some people finally discovered my "running persona" and were perplexed about the whole barefoot running experience... despite doing all of their physical activity barefoot. Pretty much everyone hates running, but I've gotten a few to try it barefoot. Unsurprisingly, they loved it. :)
Yah, I had the same mental block. I trained karate 20 years ago in Japan for 3 years or so. We did everything barefoot of course, including running. But when I took up recreational running in the States, 10 years later, it didn't occur to me to run barefoot, despite the karate experience and also despite having been a casual barefooter most of my adult life. I went out and got the standard over-built sneakers. Over a couple of years I achieved ok running fitness, but never felt like "a runner," and never felt like running more than five miles at a time. Then about ten years after that, I came back from fieldwork in Mozambique and my brother sent me Lieberman's "Barefoot Professor" video. And then everything made sense; my 'running persona,' as you put it, met my 'barefooter persona,' and the two of them have been getting along really well ever since.
 
People get "negative" impressions due to their own misconceptions and defensiveness many times, too, often simply being bothered by someone else's reasonable enthusiastic involvement in anything.
You can say that again! It's like barefooters have to walk on egg shells around non-barefooters for fear we may say something to offend them, then make our "community" look bad. It gets ridiculous!