Barefoot Running

I grew up "country". My dog was never on a leash. Summer meant swimming in the local irrigation canal and going barefoot all day. Something about the feel of ground beneath my feet changed the way I experienced the season. Even now I still enjoy being barefoot. After spending all day with my feet encased in leather boots it is very liberating to wiggle my toes and shuffle around the house and sometimes my neighborhood.

Given this penchant I was really intrigued when I stumbled on the five-fingered shoes. I wondered if it was possible to run or walk in what essentially amounts to a foot glove? Well scientists are asking the same question and lucky for us they have money and labs to research that stuff. Unfortunately they haven't come up with any solid answers yet.

This article in the CSM does a nice breakdown on the phenonmenon and gives some good links and further reading material. The author makes a good case for running barefoot:

"It is counter-intuitive, but the truth is – and studies back this up – that the more you block out the feeling of impact in your feet, the more impact you are likely to put into your body, at the wrong time in your stride, by moving and landing differently than you would if you actually felt what you were doing.

Have you ever wondered why you have so much feeling on the bottom of your feet, so much information sensing capacity? Well, one of its purposes is to feel impact and make changes in your stride to reduce it through form and technique."

Honestly I just keep thinking of how amazing those African runners are at the Olympics and a lot of them train barefoot. There must be something we are missing.
So I want to give the shoe/glove a chance. Unfortunately the price tag ($169) makes my miser heart skip a beat. Maybe I will just take the cheap option and go barefoot. Well at least for the summer.