As an adjective, "shod" is defined by Merriam Webster as "wearing footgear (as shoes)," a not-so-common word that has come into play more since Christopher McDougall's best seller Born to Run was published in 2010. For the entertainment value alone you should get a hold of a copy and read the excellent book that was recently released to paperback. Who could resist a cool anthropology lesson touching on the evolution of Homo Sapiens along with running stories on the last known persistent hunters and characters such as Barefoot Ted and Nike's legendary Bill Bowerman? As the book's sub-title suggests (A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen) there's a lot more to the story than simple recommendation to jump aboard the barefoot running train.
Given that popular culture and science have converged to deliver a fairly consistent message that "natural," "unsupported" and dare I say "barefoot" running is good for you, while traditional "heavily cushioned" shod running is not, I've take the opportunity to put forward some related research that I find interesting and thought provoking. I'm a convert and actively wear running shoes that put me in touch with terra firma rather than making me feel like I'm running on a mattress. Those old and now seemingly ridiculously heavy and padded running shoes have been replaced by a pair of Nike Free Runs (9 oz. with flexible sole and unsupported upper) and a pair of New Balance Miniumus MT20s (trail shoes). Both offer "strengthening and natural gait management benefits associated with barefoot training, while offering the necessary cushioning, traction and underfoot protection." Of course, it would be difficult to overlook the fact that Nike is now cashing in on solving the problem that they almost single handedly created. Padded, not padded, cushioned, not cushioned, they're going to get you for your $100 plus anyway AND tell you to replace them every three months or after x amount miles as "they're like tires, they need to be replaced when they wear down." Busting that myth is for another time though.
Food for thought: One of the most amazing anecdotes presented by McDougall in Born to Run as Painful Truth No. 1 was that "The Best Shoes are the Worst." Based on a 1989 study by Dr. Bernard Marti, a preventative medicine specialist at Switzerland's University of Bern, runners wearing top-of-the-line shoes are 123 percent more likely to get injured than runners in cheap shoes. He also points out the fact that the most common variable among the casualties wasn't training surface, running speed, weekly mileage,or "competitive training motivation." It wasn't even body weight, or a history of previous injury: it was the price of the running shoe. Runners in shoes that cost more than $95 were more than twice as likely to get hurt as runners in shoes that cost less than $40. This was no outlier study as follow up studies found similar results.
Anyway, dig in, get fired up, figure out a plan for yourself and strap on a pair of Nikes, NBs, Vibrams, pieces of leather, Chuck Taylors or whatever feels good and stay in touch with terra firma.
