Barefoot running has got a lot of press since Christopher McDougall released his book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.
(click the above picture for details)
Why Feet Hurt
Movement in general is a set of skills that you acquire through trial, error and practice throughout your life. Walking and running are fundamental movement skills that we develop from a young age, but the thing that most people don’t understand is that just because you can walk and run, doesn’t mean you are doing it very well. The most important tools our bodies have, that gives us the unique ability to walk and run upright, is our feet; covering them up with heavy, clunky, confining shoes most of your life will almost guarantee that you walk and run poorly and inevitably develop pain and deformity.
Although I think the barefoot running movement is great, what really needs to happen is a barefoot lifestyle movement. You need to walk before you can run and stand before you can walk. What you choose to put on your feet will affect all three of these skills. You spend far more time in a day standing and walking than you do running so the best cross training you can do for running is to keep your feet active and in tune with the ground when ever you are vertical.