Barefoot Running or Natural Running has established itself in the running scene relatively recently. It could be dated to 1960 and then to the first international competitions won by barefoot athletes, such as Ethiopian Abebe Bikila who won the Olympic marathon in Rome that year. The practice has remained marginal since then until the present day, being considered exotic and suitable only for African athletes.
It is only since 2009, when the Barefoot Running Society was founded, that the driving force of this discipline has gained momentum and strength. The same year also saw the publication of the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, which we have already discussed.
Why then call it Natural Running? Perhaps it is because it is practiced without (or almost) the aid of filters or running tools (the shoes, of course) and thus not placing anything between the sole of the foot and the ground. The body can then experience every irregularity in the terrain, with pleasant or unrelated annexes.
There is another reason why it is called “natural,” however, and that is that historically and biomechanically, this running mode/setting is the most innate. Historically because the study of how some tribes that have preserved ancestral traditions and ways to the present day run has confirmed; biomechanically because, quite simply, the bare foot and body have no other way of running than this, profoundly different from traditional running, that is, running that takes advantage of cushioned shoes (we will address this topic better when we discuss the biomechanics of natural running).
Natural Running is an extreme form of running: extreme not in the sense that it is practiced in prohibitive conditions, but relative to the traditional running with cushioned shoes that we have been accustomed to for years. Instead, in an absolute sense, it is the end point of an approach that can and should be progressive, but that refers to more than just the one way of running that is innate in humans.
It is unthinkable (as well as dangerous and damaging to joints and muscles) to start running barefoot being accustomed to doing so in running shoes, and it is certainly unthinkable to do so without first changing your running setup.
For this reason (and we will see this better in the next contributions) it is appropriate to approach this discipline gradually, not neglecting any of the steps that will accustom the physique and the foot to running as nature and body mechanics dictate.