Running Human

In other words, current humans who want to reconnect with the ancestral and vital activity will significantly benefit from walking or running directly barefoot, which guarantees an efficient self-regulation, because the feeling of pain in the soles will prevent them from running longer or faster than what they should, so that the body can progressively adapt its capacity to insure an injury-free experience.

There may be many answers, but the only way to complete easily a marathon is to get prepared, so those who run less than 40 km (25 mi) a week are more likely to experience fatigue during the race than those who log 80 km (50 mi) or more. In other words, not finishing a marathon because of exhaustion means that people are not ready for the race, and thanks to the gurus’ deception, they don’t even need to blame themselves. “I did my job like the other participants, I was well prepared for this marathon, but I unfortunately did hit the wall, while the lucky ones didn’t,” they might think.

We nowadays know that running is a drug, but many people are not aware of the full implications of the addiction on humans who don’t run, and who are indeed the suffering patients, while mistakenly assuming that the marathoners are those who have to confront the problem. The reason is that all humans are hooked on the natural drugs called endorphins, and long-distance running is the key to get the required amount that guarantees happiness, by the way for free. There are natural laws that neither Homo sapiens nor any other living species can break with impunity. Individuals of the animal kingdom have the same mission to contribute to the survival of their respective species. However, given their propensity to laziness, it’s the impulsive quest for pleasure that prods them to fulfill their vital obligations properly, namely having sex for procreation, and finding food the ancestral way. Since modern long-distance running is tantamount to persistence hunting, marathoners are rewarded with the adequate quantity of endorphins. In other words, these incentives which used to motivate our ancestors to run after their quadruped preys, exert the same effects on marathon runners, so that they complete the race and get the medals. But for the reward to work successfully, people must feel an irresistible need to get it. This is the way animal species survive, which means that humans who don’t run marathons may suffer as a result from the endorphin withdrawal syndrome. And, sadly, many of them seek relief in psychotropic medication, excess of food, licit or prohibited euphoric substances, impulsive consumption, pecuniary accumulation, loony superiority complex, quest for power or domination, cruelties to other humans, etc. Moreover, these “alternative therapies” of the syndrome can create new addictions, which regrettably tend to persist in many runners of long distances.

People who have had an arm or a leg in cast for one or two weeks have likely noticed the speed and extent of the resulting muscle atrophy. Well, shoes act as a permanent cast, confining the feet in the role of passive organs, locked up inside unnecessary objects that not only directly hurt them, but may also cause damage to the legs and even to the spine. Furthermore, the shoes prevent the plantar tactile receptors from touching the ground and getting the crucial information on its characteristics that the brain desperately needs. In other words, the receptors become useless.

Besides preventing the brain from getting the information about the ground, and our feet from developing and working correctly, the shoes alter the natural and efficient running biomechanics. The consequences may be limited in short races, as the body tries to cope. But the longer the distance, the more likely people will sustain injuries and pains. And those who weigh over 70 kg (154 pounds), because they are tall or they have a high BMI, are the most vulnerable.

Folks, any kid will tell us: “With all due respect, there are no such things as barefoot shoes.” Any shoes are shoes, and barefoot means barefoot, i.e. naked feet. And just for the record, here’s the definition of the adjective and adverb “barefoot” by, for instance, the Cambridge Dictionary: “Not wearing any shoes or socks.” But marketing gurus possess a highly effective secret weapon: their comprehensive knowledge of the gullibility and the herding instinct of humans. They feel therefore free to exploit the ancestral phobia of barefoot running to convince people that when they wear the costly minimalist shoes, they are barefoot. “With our shoes, you safely get the benefits of barefoot running,” they pretend.

Finally, and above all, barefoot running may prove an effective gullibility “terminator,” since researchers at the University of North Florida have confirmed that shoeless running significantly increases our brain performance. The 72 participants in the study ran both barefoot and with shoes, and their working memory was measured before and after each running. The researchers “found a significant increase in working memory performance in the barefoot-running condition. There was no significant increase in working memory when running with shoes.” “This research shows us that we can realize our cognitive potential and enjoy ourselves at the same time: If we take off our shoes and go for a run, we can finish smarter than when we started,” concluded Dr. Ross Alloway, the lead researcher who designed the experiment.

Second, long-distance running should be practiced as a permanent and vital human activity, not as a seasonal hobby. In other words, we shouldn’t train for a marathon. We should be ready to run a marathon at any time, preferably the way our body is designed to, i.e. on our naked feet.

I completed the Chisinau Marathon on September 30 in a time of 3:40:15. After crossing seven days later the finish line of the Lyon Marathon in a time of 4:39:49, the journalist Matthias Tesson of the French TV channel, TF1, who was preparing a report on my experience requested me to submit my feet to the expertise of an osteopath. “There’s no need to, since my feet are okay,” I replied. “I have to provide to our viewers the opinion of a specialist,” he insisted. So he took me to the osteopaths who were treating some fellow finishers, and one of them examined bewilderedly my feet.  “His feet are normal and unscathed, which is surprising for me!” exclaimed the specialist, while his colleague was rightfully laughing. “How do you explain that?” the journalist asked. “Well, this is only possible for people who have never worn shoes in their life,” the osteopath replied. “Sir, I’m 63 and I started running barefoot only 3 years ago,” I said. “It’s amazing to see that those who ran the marathon with expensive sneakers are the ones who suffered injuries and many of them can even hardly walk,” his laughing colleague commented.