Why Anton Krupicka Runs Barefoot

Who’s Anton? I don’t know either but this article was interesting in talking about the simplicity of running shoes or lack thereof.

Why Anton Krupicka Runs Barefoot

Embracing the simplicity of running

By Anton Krupicka

As featured in the issue of Running Times Magazine

I initially began pursuing the act of running barefoot and wearing more minimal running shoes over six years ago. After a series of injuries in high school, a well-meaning podiatrist convinced me that I needed heavily constructed motion-control shoes coupled with expensive, custom-made fiberglass orthotics in order to remain injury-free. 

But I continued to get injured.

The thought of throwing out my orthotics and experimenting with lighter shoes first occurred to me simply because of how much more enjoyable running was on the few occasions that I wore lightweight racing flats (at that time, I typically wore flats for speed workouts and races). As a result, over the course of a few months, I gradually transitioned from wearing orthotics and conventional trainers to logging miles in racing flats and often nothing more than my bare feet. Over the past year or two—and with the help of the timely publication of some peer-reviewed research and the best-selling book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall—this practice has now hit the mainstream in a big way.

Read on here.