"Merrell Naked Foot 5K for Barefoot Runners"

This article is about a lot more than just the 5k, even though the notion of a shoe manufacturer sponsoring a race for barefoot runners is pretty revolutionary. It may be the the most positive article I've read about barefoot running:

"About 15 years later, Hadley tried to take up running, but constant pain limited his workouts to a couple of miles at most. At that point, though, he had doctorates in anatomy and physical therapy, and he used a therapy technique that was so effective on other runners that he decided to try it.

"As he went into a modified hamstring stretch one night, something in his lower body cracked and, when he stood up, his legs suddenly were the same length. He now figures his legs always were the same, but the injury jarred his pelvis out of alignment.

"Nonetheless, after more than a decade of wearing one-inch lifts to compensate for the difference, Hadley didn’t wear any shoes for the next four days. One afternoon, he started to run around with his kids at a park and realized he wasn’t feeling any discomfort.

"'It was the most extraordinary experience I’d had in a long time,' the 40-year-old Grand Rapids resident said. 'That was the first time I had run without pain in 15 years.'

"In large part, he credits the shift to going barefoot."

Read the whole thing.