Review: "This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol..." by Annie Grace

tl;dr: If you've ever thought about your drinking, you should probably read This Naked Mind. It's that fundamental—it's the owner's manual for alcohol.

"Can I still drink alcohol?" — Everyone's First Question About Fixing Diet

Alcohol consumption is one of the first questions that comes up after I start discussing the topic of a healthy diet with people. I always laugh, and say, "Well, alcohol's a poison, of course, so you don't want to overdo it..."

And, like most who try to eat well, I make alcohol a part of my "healthy" diet.

We also hear in the media that "moderate" consumption of alcohol is healthier than consuming none. I've never believed this, first because it's based on epidemiology, and second because I think it's a bit silly. Alcohol is a poison, and I don't think that consuming "moderate" amounts of a poison is ever really going to improve health, unless it's counter-acting some other poison. In which case the logical course is to stop consuming the first poison, not to add the second.

I was discussing the topic of booze with a friend one day recently, and she recommended this book. Despite this blog basically being a self-help blog, inspired by a self-help book (McDougall's Born to Run), I hate self-help books. Most of them I find tedious, repetitions of obvious things that we all know and know we should do.

Those that I've found valuable and compelling enough to actually alter my behavior, like BtR or Stephan Guyenet's Whole Health Source blog, contained a combination of some truths that I was aware of, and had acted upon; some validation or proof of another truth that I had considered, but had not acted upon; and then, having been pulled to that point, some other truths that I would soon be acting upon. It has been a powerful combination.

Grace's book is that kind of self-help book.

This is not a hellfire-and-brimstone anti-drinking book. I had those classes in high school, and they're a bit ridiculous. My reaction upon reading the definition of an alcoholic in that class was, "That's everybody!" Defining a disease so broadly as to include everyone is silly.

Grace does not make that mistake. She observes how widespread drinking and abuse of drinking is, as a book like this must, but she doesn't harp on it, and there are no stupid generalizations. As she explains:

"I have not given you definitive direction to stop drinking altogether. I have a hard time with rules. If there is a rule I must follow, my every instinct is to break it. A definitive statement to answer this question is difficult. I don’t want to write a rule and have the rebels, like myself, feel that they are bound. I would much rather present you with all the facts, allowing you to come to the decision that is best for you."

And, compellingly, she focuses on the subtle effects that alcohol has on the individual, the moderate drinker. She states her goal early:

"As you uncover the truth, your perception will begin to change, both consciously and unconsciously, and with this knowledge you will no longer desire alcohol. You will be free."

Then she begins to go through the facts:

"As John A. Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale, put it, “Unconscious systems are continually furnishing suggestions about what to do next and the brain is acting on those, all before conscious awareness. Sometimes those goals are in line with our conscious intentions and purposes and sometimes they’re not. ”

I've often thought that our conscious mind is really nothing more than a passenger in our body, driving to some extent, but often just carried along, so this really hit a note.

"While scientists used to believe dopamine was linked to feeling good, they now believe that dopamine is linked to learning, and learning includes wanting, expecting, and craving."

So essentially what is happening is that by activating your dopamine system, alcohol is training you, like a rat in a cage, to subconsciously crave more alcohol.

Grace goes through the consequences of that, and notes that while we can use our willpower to moderate that craving, "willpower is a finite and exhaustible resource, much like a muscle, that can be fatigued." So when you wake up in the morning and find out that you had "a little too much to drink last night", you're responding to a powerful chemical stimulus with a muscle that probably fatigued. It's no surprise that all find themselves over-indulging occasionally. The surprise would be if none did.

She does go through the many negative consequences of alcohol. It's a known carcinogen, with no non-carcinogenic dose, other than zero. We all know it alters behavior, but not how pervasive those alterations can be, and there were a few moments where I found myself thinking, "Oh...", with a bit of chagrin. None of us likes to discover we're an unwitting puppet to a chemical.

"Now that you know the naked truth about alcohol and what it has been doing to you, your body, and your mind, you’ll be able to act."

One particularly amusing little anecdote struck me, as it describes me and, probably, everyone who will read this review on this blog:

"Everyone at the table was intelligent and seemed very in control of their drinking, yet there they were, drinking a known poison in massive quantities and speculating about the possibility of plastic leaching into their drinking water."

Yes, put like that, it seems downright stupid.

The book is also well-written, and enjoyable. She has a terrific voice, is clearly intelligent, and includes some great quotes:

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi

So yes, the book is a mind-bomb.

If you've ever reflected on drinking and it's role in your life, this is a terrific book to read. It's a great book if you've wondered about the health consequences of drinking, and more important, may enlighten you to some behavioral consequences of drinking of which you had not been aware.

Her intent, if you choose to let her by reading the whole thing, is to alter how you think about and look at alcohol forever. It certainly had that effect on me. Much like first reading BtR, that niggling doubt, that nascent thought, has been validated, brought to the fore, and now demands action.

You couldn't ask for more from a book.

Highly Recommended.

Grace, Annie. This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol: Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life (p. 187). ASPN Publications. Kindle Edition. 

Native American Running Events at the Boston Marathon

From Dan Lieberman, this morning.  Please spread the word!

Native American Running: Culture, Health, Sport

Harvard University and the Boston Athletic Association are pleased to co-sponsor Native American Running: Culture, Health, Sport on April 15 and 16.  Coinciding with both the 2016 Boston Marathon and with the 80th anniversary of Ellison Myers “Tarzan” Brown, Sr. (Narragansett) winning the Marathon in 1936, this multi-day event will explore the history and importance of Native American running traditions, present efforts to support and encourage running in Native American communities today, and promote the many benefits of running.

The multi-day event kicks off with a conference on Friday, April 15 1:30 – 5:00 at Harvard's Science Center (Room C) featuring talks by native American runners including Olympian Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota), Oren Lyons (Haudenosaunee), Arnulfo Quimare (Tarahumara), Irma Chavez (Tarahumara), Dustin Martin (Navajo), Chris Sockalexis (Penobscot), Mathew Gilbert (Hopi), Alyssa Mt. Pleasant (Tuscorara), Tleena Ives (Port Gamble S’Klallam) and others.  There will also be talks by David Carrasco, Daniel Lieberman, Chris McDougall, and more.

The conference is free, and no registration is required. See the full schedule at https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/native-american-running.

On Saturday April 16 at the Boston Marathon Expo (Hynes Convention Center), Billy Mills will speak at 11:00, and there will be a panel discussion from 12-1:00 featuring Rob De Castella, Irma Chavez, Dan Lieberman, Dustin Martin, Chris McDougall, Arnuflo Quimare and more.
This event is also free and open to the public

If you've never been to an event with Dan Lieberman and Chris McDougall, make it a priority.  They're both very knowledgeable (although Prof. Lieberman takes the cake!), and very entertaining speakers.  Most highly recommended.

"Why Aren't Shoes Preventing Running Injuries?"

Good question.

"Barefoot running shoes and shoes with extra cushioning seek to protect runners—but despite all the new technology, running injuries are no less common than they were 30 years ago."

Most runners are still running in the same sort of shoes that they've been wearing for the last 30 years. It shouldn't be surprising that we're seeing the same outcome, if we assume that running shoes can affect injury rates.

"In the past 30 years running has changed from something done by trained runners who competed for sport, to an activity that is enjoyed by the masses."

This is silly. I'm pretty sure that "the masses" have been running for a long, long time. As this account makes clear, foot racing has long been a regular part of recreation:

"The Clary Grove boys, the Island Grove boys, the Sangamon River boys and the Sand Ridge boys, each designated by the part of the country from which they came, would gather there to indulge in horse racing, foot racing, wrestling, jumping, ball playing and shooting at a mark."

So it's a typically weak article on the topic, but he at least gets points for quoting Jay Dicharry and Dan Lieberman, and mentioning Born to Run.

"Confronted with the baffling array of running shoes, the prevailing wisdom seems to be to pick a shoe that fits your running style, not to hope a shoe will change you."

Of course the high-heeled cushioned sneakers that most all wear today were created to do exactly that:

"...Over the next 40 years, we have seen the height as well as the cushion gradually increase. These developments inadvertently made runners adopt a “heel to toe” gait or “heel strike” when running. Bowerman and W.E. Harris authored a primer entitled Jogging: A [Medically Approved] Physical Fitness Program for All Ages in 1967. In this very popular book, they noted the most efficient way to run should be landing or striking on the heel first. The authors specifically stated that forefoot striking is incorrect and not the proper way to land.

"Bowerman and Harris had no scientific basis for this explanation. Several years later, they went on to create a running shoe that contained a cushioned heel...."

That shoe was Nike.

Barefoot Running In NYC and The State Of Barefoot Shoes

Nice!

"Chris Hawson didn't run much in New York City until he took off his shoes. That was three years, and more than 9,000 miles, ago.

"You can blame Chris McDougall and Born to Run for that,” he says while sipping hot chocolate in a coffee shop near the Union Square Paragon Sports where he works as an outerwear buyer. “It was inspirational to me. I didn't treat it as a technique manual, but it set me off on a path.”

"A health scare in 2009 prompted Hawson, now in his mid-50s, to start running a couple of times a week, but he found his IT bands, knees, and shins started to hurt, forcing him to resort to inline skating. Then Hawson, who spent a decade leading bike and ski trips in Northern Scotland, discovered Vibram FiveFingers and ran a few hundred miles during the summer and fall, mixing them in with a couple other pairs of more traditional shoes. But winter came, so he packed the FiveFingers away because of the cold. That plan didn't last long, however, and pretty soon he had ditched conventional shoes entirely."

Read the whole thing.

I went to see In the High Country (a movie about ultra-runner Anton Krupicka) in NYC last night, and Chris was there. (Paragon organized the showing.)

Chris, as the Outdoor story makes clear, is the real deal. I've run with him a couple of time in various McDougall-organized "events". He really does do the bulk of his miles barefoot.

As a buyer at Paragon he had some interesting thoughts on the minimalist shoe market: it's fading. In large part because the minimalist shoes last so long. With no foam to break down, you replace your shoes when they tear, or when the sole wears through. Chis explained that he just tossed a pair of Altras that had 2,500 miles on them, because the sole wore through and he had torn the upper on a rock.

Given that the typical running shoe companies recommend that you replace their products every 300 miles, that's a major difference. He then mentioned that he probably had bought enough pairs of minimalist shoes to last the rest of his life, at that rate. I also have enough to last quite a long time.

Altra Torrin: not minimalist.

He explained that there are no new minimalist shoe designs coming out: even Altra's new line has a lot of cushion built in. We both wondered about the future of Merrell's Vapor Glove, one of my personal favorites. It was nice to see them in Merrell's winter catalog, but I wonder if they'll last through next summer. New Balance's Mimimus line does doesn't seem to be doing well (according to a New Balance store I visited recently), as the most minimal models are falling by the wayside.

Guess it's not too surprising... When Dr. Munson first invented the barefoot-style shoe after World War I, they put millions of them on the feet of American soldiers. They were very popular, but then the whole thing disappeared as generations turned over, and they were forgotten...

Hopefully a few companies will stick with the idea so folks like me and Chris can replace our shoes when we need to.

Luna, Russell, and Skora seem to be pretty committed to the minimalist idea. [P.S. And VivoBarefoot!]

But there's more research coming along showing the clear advantages of barefoot over shod foot-binding, so hopefully the idea will stick around.

After 10 miles running in the snow.

My running rotation has been barefoot, Luna Sandals, Vapor Gloves, and Vibram Fivefinger Speeds. None of them show much wear on the sole. If I do a trail race, I'll wear the Trail Glove, and I wore the Sonic Glove the other day when I did a 10-mile run in the snow. I can't really see any reason why I'd ever want to go back to the sort of sneaker I used to wear.

(Found the Outdoor story via Chris McDougall on Twitter.)

How Google Reader Saved My Life

Google Reader is shutting down.

Hey Google, We Still Love Reader

I'm in shock.

This blog is about barefoot running and healthy, paleo-style diets.  These two topics have utterly changed my and my family's life in the past five years.

Post moved to Substack

Scott Jurek's "Eat and Run"

"My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness".

Sounds interesting. I'm curious to learn what kind of vegan diet he uses to fuel his exploits. Christopher McDougall told me that Jurek's very aware of the limitations of the vegan diet, and is very careful to get proper nutrition. (I love the title.)

McDougall posted that they're going on the road, and will be in NYC on June 5. I'd like to see the Jerker talk, I'll try to make it in.

The picture to the left (from McDougall's blog) is from this run, that's John Durant's lovely sister Maggie, who helped John (did most of the work) organize the NYC Barefoot Run, which I hope will take place again this year.

"Marketers Sprint to Join Lightweight-Running Craze"

The revolution continues apace:

"Runners have always taken pride in the lack of equipment and technical gear their sport requires. And now many are getting even more basic, fueling the rise of so-called minimal or lightweight footwear that strips out cushioning and structure.


"While not for the weekend warrior, lightweight-running products are gaining traction with a broad swath of the population. And marketers are taking notice, flooding the market with major campaigns in an effort to grab a piece of the fast-growing category.

"According to SportsOneSource, lightweight products -- loosely defined as shoes that weigh 9 oz. or less in a men's size 9 -- accounted for 28% of the running category in the second quarter. Minimalist styles, a subset of lightweight, accounted for 5% of the running category. Lightweight and minimalist products have been around for years. Nike Free was launched in 2004 and Vibram's FiveFingers shoes (think: gloves for the feet) followed in 2005. The trend has incubated since then. The 2009 book, "Born to Run," which followed a tribe of distance runners in Mexico who run in flat, homemade sandals, is credited with catapulting the discussion to the mainstream...."

"While not for the weekend warrior" is hooey, but the rest is pretty interesting, and I hope this woman is right:

""Once you've made the transition [to a minimal or lightweight product] it's difficult to go back," said Katherine Petrecca, collection manager for New Balance's minimal line. "What will happen in the more mainstream channels remains to be seen, but in performance and specialty channels, it's here to stay.""

"Barefoot Runner Braves Falmouth Road Race", or More Podiatric Baloney

The Falmouth Road Race is one of the most famous races in the United States, if you weren't aware.
So when a guy runs it barefoot, it's news in Massachusetts:

"...On Sunday, White and two other solid-soled souls plan on running the 39th New Balance Falmouth Road Race in their birthday boots.

"White, 47, began running barefoot about a year ago after he read Christopher McDougall's Born to Run, a 2009 book that, in part, brought barefoot running's status from an off-beat activity to a growing movement. "I had stopped pretty much completely for the past 15 or 20 years," said White, who ran track for University of Maine. 

"Although he enjoyed running in his younger days, nagging pains in his back and a knee kept him away from the sport, he said. But hearing McDougall speaking on the radio about his time witnessing Tarahumara Indians in Mexico running miles over rough terrain — a sight that inspired his book — prompted White to attend a conference about barefoot running where he heard Irene Davis speak...."

Pretty cool story.   Unfortunately, it features the Obligatory Dingbat Podiatrist Quote:

"But many in the podiatry field remain skeptical of the phenomenon. 'The literature is showing that there is increased injury — almost an epidemic — within barefoot running,' said Moira McDermott, founder of Lower Cape Podiatry in Brewster and a past president of Podiatric Medical Society. 'If you haven't grown up your whole life in your bare feet ... as an adult, feet need support.'"

This is really a sweet piece of disinfomation from what I'm coming to realize is an amazingly ignorant or dishonest profession.

By "the literature", she must be referring to stuff like this:

"Although there is no evidence that either confirms or refutes improved performance and reduced injuries in barefoot runners, many of the claimed disadvantages to barefoot running are not supported by the literature. Nonetheless, it seems that barefoot running may be an acceptable training method for athletes and coaches who understand and can minimize the risks. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 101(3): 231–246, 2011)"

Yes, that's right, this is from the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association.  This lady was supposedly a past president of the Podiatric Medical Society.  So she either doesn't actually read "the literature", or she's not up on the latest literature (that article was from the May/June issue), or she's just making it up.  I'm going with the first or the last options, since there's precious little literature on the topic.  If she's not read this, she's likely not read anything.

And this:  "If you haven't grown up your whole life in your bare feet ... as an adult, feet need support." is just baloney.  Provide some evidence, Doctor.  It's a pity you don't have any.  In which case, you should be quiet.

And I put this under my "Diseases of Civilization" category of posts, because doctors like this one are a major cause of the diseases of civilization.

Here's a post-race report.  Podiatric fear-mongering aside:

"Curtis, who entered the race with three other members of the Barefoot Running Meetup Group, finished the 7-mile course in 1:09.21. 

"'My feet felt so good,' Curtis said. 'Running through water would make them cool. (Then) they would be dry again ... It was no problem at all.'

"Curtis said there was actually a fifth barefoot runner in the race, 'but he was so far ahead,' they weren't able to find out who he was."

P.S. From Craig Payne at Podiatry Arena:

"Quote: But many in the podiatry field remain skeptical of the phenomenon. 'The literature is showing that there is increased injury — almost an epidemic — within barefoot running,' said Moira McDermott, founder of Lower Cape Podiatry in Brewster and a past president of Podiatric Medical Society.

"I would love to know what literature that they think actually says that?
"Quote: Originally Posted by Craig Payne: 'what I object to is the misuse, misrepresentation, misquoting and misinterpretation of the science'
"Not a day goes by that I do not hear ANECDOTAL reports from podiatrists and other health professionals working in running injury clinics about the high number of barefoot runners that are getting injured, but that is NOT a scientific report and its certainly not 'literature' , so I wonder what Moria McDermott thinks she is quoting from?

Gee, I'd guess she's might have been reading your site: www.barefootrunningisbad.com

As shown here, and here, it's pretty clearly your site, Payne.

Dr. Payne is unmasked.
But at least he agrees with my interpretation of his colleague.  :)

"Born to Run" Movie News

It's moving along...

"'We’re going to try to make, you know, a kind of wild dirt magazine sort of version of 'Born to Run' that honors the true free spirit of what a lot of these people are like,' Sarsgaard says. 'I was drawn to it because I wanted to play Caballo Blanco and then I got drawn into directing it and now I don’t feel comfortable [doing both].'

"Aiming for a winter shoot, the indie 'Run' is looking at alternative offers for financing. Sarsgaard says, 'There’s a lot of different ways of financing this movie because it’s such a popular book and all those kind of companies like Terra Planet and shoe companies. There’s a lot of different people that even like running/training groups that has nothing to do with the book. So, we have a number of options which is nice. If the movie were just an original screenplay, not based on anything, it would be a lot tougher to make. It’s got sort of a built-in core audience which is a big advantage.'

"An avid runner himself, Sarsgaard is seeing the action in the story within the races which he views almost as traditional 'chase' scenes...."

Follow-up to "Beer Run with Chrisopher McDougall"

Thanks to McDougall on Twitter, here's a great video of the run.  That's me at 1:38, and in the last scene (always change your t-shirt after a run.  It makes you feel so much fresher. ;).


Barefoot Beer Run from Kris wood on Vimeo.

Original post.

Amby Burfoot, Head Still in Sand

I've posted about Amby's views on barefoot running before, but today saw this exchange on Twitter:

exerscience (Amby Burfoot): "Nothing like a NYTimes article on Barefootin' to set off a landslide of Comments. Still all anecdote on key issues. http://nyti.ms/m30OLx"

BornToRunChris (Chris McDougall): "@exerscience Gotcha. It's ok that zero science supports cushioned shoes, yet 2 million years of bare feet are sniffed at as 'anecdotal.'"

Keep your head in the sand, Amby.  The folks that count get it.

Phil Maffetone and Chris McDougall

Thanks to Luis.

"A Brief History of Barefoot Running"

What a great article:

"...Bare feet were not invented in 2009, and have been the footwear of choice for many top and other runners long before the current fashion.

"Same for minimalist shoes. The idea that less weight on your feet helps you go faster is not rocket science, nor a deep secret preserved for centuries by lost tribes. Shoe companies' 2011 'minimalist' models follow a long line. In 1951 Shigeki Tanaka (Japan) won the Boston Marathon in tiny canvas sock-shoes with a separated big toe. In 1953, Roger Bannister's search for perfection and the 4-minute mile led him to a Wimbledon shoemaker called Sandy Law, who custom-made track spikes with uppers of soft, super-light kangaroo skin. I can vouch for it. In 1957, as a young Bannister fan at school in Wimbledon, I had Law make a pair for me....

"...Runners who think about their craft have always been willing to go minimal, as well as learn from people who live close to nature. So we have long been familiar with the Tarahumara Indians. Far from being a hidden unknown tribe, their prowess and their limitations as runners are well-known in the running world. Several of them have been trained and selected to represent Mexico, and their running rituals have been reliably recorded in at least one British mass-circulation newspaper, and American books such as Peter Nabokov's deeply informative Indian Running (1981), required reading for anyone claiming to understand Native American running culture....

"...Runner-coach-scientist-author Bruce Tulloh, who won the European 5,000m championship barefoot on cinders in 1962, visited and studied the Tarahumara in 1971, and wrote fully about them in the magazine of Britain's Observer Sunday newspaper.

"'Those I saw all ran in their huaraches. Their stamina was impressive. I was still in 14:00 shape for 5,000m, and one of their stars, Ramon, in his mid-40s, ran with me for 90 minutes and never took his hat off. I also ran with a younger runner, Madril, whose pulse after a brisk 50 minutes was 10 beats lower than mine (but of course I was not altitude-adjusted),' Tulloh told me.

"Tulloh had been part of scientific research into barefoot running in 1961, conducted by Dr. Griffith Pugh, famous as the medical leader of the mountaineering team that conquered Everest in 1953. Later Pugh did seminal research into altitude training.

"'Dr. Pugh had me run repetition miles, to compare the effect of bare feet, shoes, and shoes with added weight. He collected breath samples.

"'It showed a straight-line relationship between weight of shoes and oxygen cost. At sub-5:00 mile pace, the gain in efficiency with bare feet is 1 percent, which means a 100m advantage in a 10,000m. In actual racing, I found another advantage is that you can accelerate more quickly,' Tulloh said...."

Well, that sounds familiar.

This is how the running establishment will re-embrace barefoot-style running: by claiming they were doing it all along.  Amby Burfoot has shown the way, and others will follow.  From reading this article you might get the impression that Roger Robinson has been beating the drum for barefoot-style running for decades, until Born to Run came along and unfairly stole the limelight.

Well, Mr. Robinson has a website, and if you go there and look for either "barefoot" or "minimalist" you'll find: "Your search returned no documents."  (I presume this will change after he links to his latest piece from his website.)

What McDougall did was re-uncover the fact that barefoot running has a long and illustrious history, and make clear that sneakers are not the only way to run.  This fact had either been forgotten or suppressed by runners like Robinson and Burfoot (depending on how paranoid you are ;), and had complete disappeared from the popular imagination.

Would Robinson ever have written this article without McDougall?  Would Running Times have published it?

Chris McDougall's Born to Run Cabaret is Finally Online

Full video is here.  Prof. Lieberman's segment is here.  If you've never seen Lieberman speak, I highly recommend it.  He could easily quit Harvard and do stand-up comedy.

The lady doing the Hula routine is McDougall's wife.

I went to see this in person last fall, and had a great dinner with Barefoot Ted and John Durant and John's sister Maggie afterward.  It was a great evening.

(Barefoot Ted walks faster than any person I've ever met, and I thought I was the fastest walker around...)

Vibram's New Shoe Testing Center

Here's the Wall Street Journal story, for those who have a subscription, and here's an excerpt, for those who don't:

"...Mr. Mendl says manufacturing soles for other shoe retailers remains the primary business of Vibram. But the VFFs now account for 30% of the firm's global sales. And while sales of the unusual-looking shoe were slow at first, the company sold 400,000 pairs in 2009, and 2.5 million pairs last year, Mr. Mendl says. In 2011, Vibram's global sales target is more than four million pairs. "We can't make them fast enough," says Mr. Mendl, who, along with 100 other mostly Chinese employees, lives on campus.

"The genesis of the shoe is partly due to the barefoot-running trend that has taken off in recent years in cities like New York and London, and which gathered pace following the success of Christopher McDougall's 2009 best-selling book "Born to Run."

"Proponents argue that the cushioning and structure of regular shoes lead to an intense heel strike that doesn't allow the wearer's feet to absorb shock well, potentially causing injuries. Barefoot runners—there are now dedicated websites, clubs and numerous books backing the trend—say running au naturale happens with a less-intense strike of the forefoot that rocks to the heel, putting less strain on the knees and spine.

"While debate still rages among running groups, podiatrists and fitness experts about the merits of barefoot running, several running-shoe manufacturers have looked to get in on the trend developing shoes that mimic the barefoot style. Nike and New Balance both have minimalist shoes that are lighter and encourage a midfoot strike. With the help of Vibram, North Face and Merrell too are due to release near-barefoot, minimalist models soon...."

"'On the Move' Gets Harvard Going"

Christopher McDougall and Professor Lieberman both spoke at this event.

And They're Off!

Good luck to the folks who just started the 2010 NYC Marathon, especially Dan Lieberman and Christopher McDougall.  Run strong, and may the best man and woman win.  I'm going out for a run here in CT, and I'll watch the finish when I get back.

Christopher McDougall in the New York Times

"But at mile 22 something strange happened, followed by something even stranger. Ms. Radcliffe grimaced and fell back. Her left hamstring had seized. It was the chance of a lifetime for Ms. Tulu — and she blew it. Instead of blazing toward the finish, she let the lead pack pass while she stopped and waited for Ms. Radcliffe."

Born To Run Cabaret Hits The Daily News

Should be fun. 

And I can't imagine anyone reading this blog hasn't read Born to Run, but if you haven't, it's a great read.

"Born to Run" Event in NYC

A little birdie told me that Chris McDougall was green with envy over missing the NYC Barefoot Run.  So he's gone and set up his own event.

I just signed up...

P.S.: "I'M JUST A GLORIFIED EVENT PLANNER."  Too funny.

P.P.S.: Eventbrite was having problems with their credit-card system on their website.  If you're in NYC, you can call Paragon and pick up your tickets at the store by 4pm day of.

P.P.P.S: McDougall mentions a special guest related to the Born to Run movie...