Check out Newton Running's "State of the Natural Running Movement" Panel Discussion

Newton Running invites you.

People who have been running for awhile and paying some attention to the sport are probably aware of the barefoot running movement. In a nutshell, barefoot runners believe that shoes mess with how our bodies evolved to run and cause injuries. The barefoot runner's manifesto, or at least its most successful foray into mainstream society, is Christopher McDougall's New York Times bestseller Born to Run (read my book review here).

Barefoot runners have always been a small minority of the running population, mostly because nobody wants to run without their shoes! And for good reason! It's kind of painful, it takes a long adjustment period, and everyone is terrified of broken glass, hypodermic needles, dog poop, and all the many gross things inhabiting our roads, running paths, and public parks.

So it turns out you can have your cake and eat it, too. Newton Running is leading the "natural running" movement, which seeks to teach people to run the barefoot way while keeping their feet firmly shod. The trick here is not to wear high heels. Take a look at your running shoes or, as Newton has done, saw them in half. Your shoe's heels are much higher than your shoe's toes. This angle forces your heel to strike the ground before your toes, which runs counter to many thousands of years of evolved human running form.

You see, humans have been running for tens of thousands of years. Some evolutionary biologists actually believe that the ability to run is the primary evolutionary advantage that spurred man to become homo sapiens, i.e. a big-brained tool user. Being hairless and sweaty, we're able to run far, far longer than any other animal on earth. (In fact, there is an annual organized race between horses and humans. Apparently, these particular humans and horses defy this particular hypothesis.) Humans can cool our bodies more effectively and avoid overheating. Other animals overheat quickly. There are those biologists who believe that ancient man simply ran down his prey, continually chasing until animals keeled over, half-cooked and nearly dead (a technique known as persistence hunting and covered in a story on This American Life and this BBC video). The ability to run long meant a boost to our meat supply, which supposedly allowed our brains to grow bigger and bigger.

Anyway... we've been running a very long time, but shoes weren't invited until just a few thousand years ago. (Man, that must have been a huge "Duh!" moment!). Those used to be simple moccasin-style foot coverings with little padding. Early 20th century running shoes were mostly canvas with laces. Since Nike's founding in in mid-20th century, running shoe companies have been adding more and more padding to shoes, raising the heel 10-12% above the toe, or even higher. Now when modern humans take off our high-heeled running shoes and go for a run, we start out banging our heels against the ground, because that's what we're used to. Soon, the brain is like, "Dang! Ouch! Watch it, bro!" and begins changing our foot strike so that the middle or the front of the foot hits the ground before the heel.

Newton Running's shoes feature a 0-3% grade from heel to toe. To me, this seems to be the company's biggest contribution to running shoes, and the major shoe manufacturers are all expected to announce similarly flat running shoes at the 2010 Running Event in Texas (I'll be there!).

So Newton is dedicated to teaching people how to run with barefoot form while they keep their shoes on (preferably Newtons, of course). Newton's panel next week will explore the state of this natural running movement. This fall, we're releasing a book by Newton's co-founder Danny Abshire that is all about natural running, so you'll find me among the audience of this panel event.

A quick note: I bought this pair of Newtons, partly out of curiosity, partly to help me understand the book, and partly because I want to get faster. My quick review is that they definitely help me heel strike less, though I found that no shoe is likely to fix technique alone. I'm excited to read our book so I can overhaul my running technique... again.

The Glorious Bluster of Boulder, Colorado (and How to Use It to Your Advantage)

Boulder is one of America's fittest, most active, most outdoorsy cities, and we Boulderites love to brag about it. My wife and I moved here for its access to great hiking; it was a return to nature for us. We were totally out of shape, unless you include our expertise in judging local cuisine, which seemed to be our primary extracurricular connection to Washington, DC. We huffed and puffed our way on the trails that wend their way through Chautauqua, pausing frequently to express amazement at the altitude. First, Boulder humbles you. Then it transforms you.

Our dear Flatirons

We hiked nearly every day for months. One summer, we took friends backpacking on five weekends in Rocky Mountain National Park. We bought season passes to Abasin (because its season pass was cheapest - big mistake!).

So I surprised myself a year later when I started a new job in endurance sports and fitness industry instead of in the outdoors industry. I interviewed with Chris Dinneen at VeloGear in late March. I wore pleated khakis and a button-down longsleeve with collar, and I was worried that I was underdressed. Chris wore shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt. During my post-interview office tour, Nick Ramey told me I would need to dress down. There were dogs running amok through the office. I loved it! What could be more Boulder? I learned later that I got the job and learned much later that the company, Inside Communications, was one of the cooler places to land a job in Boulder because it owned VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, and Ski Racing magazines.

Over dozens of race expos, bike swaps, and tradeshows for VeloGear and VeloPress, I learned a few invaluable lessons.

1. Enthusiasts are everywhere, and they are often in the closet. I'm surprised to find triathletes in the most unlikely places. And once you recognize one, the defining characteristics and contrast with the surrounding non-triathletes become more stark. It's like a vertigo shot or the scenes from Highlander when the immortals sense each other's presence.
2. Enthusiasts are always sizing themselves up. When you come from a well-known brand, people will associate you with that brand. When I introduce myself as an extension of VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, or Triathlete, people naturally assume I am a cyclist or triathlete. When I introduce myself as a part of VeloPress, people assume I'm an endurance sports training nerd or cycling history buff with intimate knowledge of the yearly performance variations of Campagnolo derailleurs.
3. Endurance athletes are insecure! There is a persistent training myth in endurance sports that more is better. Endurance athletes are so driven that they constantly worry that they haven't done enough training. In fact, they are in a constant state of guilt that they are not working out right now. I blogged about a study that described the difference between outdoors and fitness enthusiasts like this: outdoorsy people will ask "What could I do today?" while fitness people will ask "What should I do today?" A brilliant and insightful distinction. 
4. Once you show an authentic association to a known enthusiast brand, enthusiasts will always overestimate your athletic abilities. People don't just assume I'm a cyclist or a triathlete, they assume I'm a total badass, a former racer. They assume I'm Neal Rogers or Lars Finanger or Fred Dreier or Lennard Zinn, with the ability to win any lunch ride, climb any hill, race Kona, or spend a full day on my bike in the mountains. This is not so. Outside of Boulder, I'm likely a half-respectable endurance athlete. When in Boulder, I'm much lower on the totem pole.

Photo: RunColo.com

My Reputation Precedes Me

So in this landscape of insecurity, how does one exploit brand? Here's what works for me.

• Lead with the brand. It's obnoxious and unseemly to namedrop in casual conversation. (Heck, this was one of the things I hated about DC!) But if things turn to business or the business of sports, I'll drop brands like they're hot. The sooner people know your affiliation, the sooner they will start overestimating you. Until, that is, they start asking you to write a story in VeloNews about whatever it is they're selling.
• Speak softly and they'll think you carry the bigger stick. Understatement is better bluster than outrageous claims. People you've just met listen more carefully when you're harder to hear.
• Let them down slowly. Or, have a good backup plan. More optimistically, impress others with brand and then impress them with whatever it is you really are good at. The crazy assumption of the enthusiast marketplace is that enthusiasm equals quality. Being able to ride for 8 hours in the mountains, place in the top 10% at Boston, or fix a 1945 Campy derailleur doesn't mean you're good at your role in those sports. Sure, it might help.
• A brand is a promise. Always remember that the brand you represent is just a foot in the door for the brand that matters most. The brand is you, and you don't need bluster.