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April 2013
Dusty Trails
TED Talks T
he most gripping part of Christopher McDougall’s cult running book Born To Run is the climactic race featuring accomplished runners like Scott Jurek, Arnulfo Quimare, and a bunch of others. Of them, one character in particular is striking – Barefoot Ted, who appears for the race and makes a definitive statement about barefoot/ minimalist running. It’s been a good time to be Barefoot Ted since the book was published. Apart from the recognition, he’s become an entrepreneur himself, developing the Luna sandals (in honour of the Tarahumara runner Manuel Luna), and seeking to popularize the barefoot way of life. DUSTY TRAILS caught up with him for a chat:
How’s life changed since Born To Run? That’s a good question. Before Born To Run, many people thought it was odd that I’d become a barefoot runner. It’s like saying to your momma… mom, I’m going to start smoking… but worse, I’m going to start smoking unfiltered cigarettes! It turned out that barefooting was what worked for me. And there was no product at that time. A lot of people would’ve been stopped because of the social pressure. Being barefoot in the US is not socially acceptable. I had the kind of personality that didn’t care what other people thought. Follow your own bliss, stay on your own path. The newfound fame from Born To
Run was my reward for staying true to my path. It ends up resonating with many other people. Now, many hundreds and thousands will find it resonating with them. On some level, the good karma from having stayed true to myself ends up being a lesson for everyone. So… yeah, a big radical change in having been a character in the book.
Running doesn’t have to be something that breaks you down. Do fish break down when they swim? Do birds break down when they fly? Do deer break down when they run? No, and the same with humans Were you a competitive runner yourself? Well, competitive in the sense, more about selfdiscovery, self-realisation, testing the envelope of possibility within oneself. It’s never been competitive in the sense that times and distances are important, but they become great tools to validate the intensity of our own focus at any endeavour. Races and events become great tests to verify what you’ve discovered in practice. I just run for the joy of it. It’s become a practice. And it’s a practice that brings health and happiness to my life. Instead of races, I see them as events where people can come together and celebrate this
capacity of being human together. So it’s like a great dance, and a celebration of being human. Could you tell us a bit about yourself, growing up… I grew up in Southern California, which is a surfing and skateboarding culture, so I was barefoot a lot. The early skateboarding days, we skateboarded barefoot. Even in my youth, the brand of clothing that was my favourite was ‘Hang Ten’, which is a surfboarding move where your feet are right at the edge, and its symbol was two bare feet. My grandmother had Native American blood, and she was barefoot a lot. Being barefoot wasn’t unusual for me. Throughout my life, I was barefoot a lot. I just didn’t know you could run barefoot. I thought, just like everybody in America, that because the ground’s so hard, and because of the pounding and blah blah blah, you needed shoes. When did you discover the runner in you? In late 2003… I wanted to find a way to run. I thought it would be great to be able to do a marathon before I turned 40. I tried all the different things you’re supposed to buy, including the greatest impact-resistant shoes in the world. Instead of making it easier, it was making it harder. I was ready to give up. Long story short, I came to the realization that barefooting might be viable. The first time I ran barefoot, it was instantaneously obvious – that I’d found the solution. It was so exciting.