Zola Budd Pieterse Finishes Second At World Masters Championships

Kind of an obnoxious story; she wasn't the "villian" of the '84 Olympics, Decker tried to trip Budd, and failed, tripping herself.

But congrats to Peiterse.  Not bad considering:

"By the third mile of the 4.97-mile race, however, the chase pack had whittled to one runner. Budd Pieterse (she married Mike Pieterse in 1989), while not struggling, was feeling the effects of the fast pace in what she said was her first cross country race in more than a year.


"She finished second, her time of 29 minutes, 19 seconds trailing Spain's Soledad Castro Solino by 28 seconds"

Wearing Newtons, I think, not barefoot.  That would have been awesome. ;)

Reebok Founder Invests in Newton Shoes

Congratulations:

"Reebok International founder Paul Fireman is jumping back into the running-shoe business, with an investment of close to $20 million in a Colorado sneaker maker that aims to capitalize on the industry’s biggest innovation in decades: shoes that mimic barefoot running.

"If Fireman has been looking for his next act, perhaps he has found it in Newton Running Co., a Boulder start-up that specializes in $175 sneakers built to emulate a shoeless stride — yet with enough cushioning to protect skin and joints from the realities of pavement pounding. He and his Fireman Capital Partners will take a roughly 30 percent stake in Newton.

"'I never thought I’d be involved in anything to do with an athletic or shoe company again,' said Fireman, 67, who five years ago sold Reebok to Adidas-Salomon for $3.8 billion and personally reaped $800 million. 'But this one intrigued me.'...

"...'In my view, this is probably the largest single revolution in running footwear since the Nike air bag,' said John Fisher, the former chief executive of shoemaker Saucony Inc. who now teaches marketing at Babson College. 'The idea of minimalism will continue to grow in geometric leaps and bounds.'

"Fisher said it has been decades since anything truly new has emerged in the running shoe business, and that Fireman could well be seizing on a large opportunity, 'where you put one and one together and you don’t get two — you get nine.'"

Good insight. Obviously some folks from the sneaker business understand what's going on.

P.S. John Fisher makes a cool statement above, but he's mistaken.  This is the largest revolution in running footwear since the sneaker.

Damien Tougas Launches Toe Salad

When I started looking into barefoot-style shoes 18 months ago, the best resource I found for the various different options was Damiens' blog.

Happily, he's now started a directory of barefoot-style (minimalist) shoes; Toe Salad.

Another Review of "Natural Running"

Runblogger this time.  The previous review I linked to is here.

Review of "Natural Running"

An interesting review of the book by Danny Abshire, the founder of Newton Running.  I'm not mad about Newtons, but some of their more minimalist shoes are good for folks looking to transition to barefoot-style running. 

I'll snarkily add that the book should be called "Nearly-Natural Running", but he's definitely on the right side of the shoe battle, for the most part. ;)

Newton Natural Running...

Yikes.  What's natural about that?

Dr. Mark Cucuzzella Interview

Interesting stuff.  I'm not a fan of Newtons or the VivoBarefoot Evo myself, but they're both good minimalist options.

Zola Budd Pieterse on Barefoot-Style Running

During the panel discussion, Budd told the audience going barefoot can lead to stronger feet. "It all starts with the foot; if the foot is strong, the body posture will be the same way."

When Budd finally did put on shoes to run on the roads growing up, they felt "so sluggish and uncomfortable. I had more injuries running with shoes than I ever did barefoot. I am so glad it (natural running) is being rediscovered."

And, with just a touch of pride, the modest Budd added: "It just shows I was right all along!"

Budd, 44, was wearing her Newtons on this run, as she does whenever she runs on the hard surfaces. She will also wear the shoes at the Oct. 3 Twin Cities Marathon, where she looks to improve on her best of 2 hours, 59 minutes.

One wonders why she doesn't go back to barefoot.

Newtons.  Better than Nikes, at least.