Running Politics

Found this unfinished draft that mostly griped about internet nonsense (I should probably include myself in some of these tendencies.) Touched it up and pushed publish for the world to digest. Enjoy

I read a fair number of running blogs, websites, and articles. I try to stay abreast of what is happening in the running community, mostly as it relates to the barefoot/minimalist movement. There tend to be two camps piping in their opinions: The Veterans & The Inexperienced Zealots. Veterans tend to discount everything that doesn't fall in line with preconcieved opinions and zealots tend to be overly excited about gear and may or may not actually ever run. Arguments between the two camps are 99% anecdotal, which should be expected I suppose, and some research emerging being actively promoted by individuals such as Christopher McDougal and RunBlogger Peter Larson.

Things that thoroughly annoy me about the current barefoot/minimalist community:

• contrived jargon (sans footwear, zero drop, unshod, shod, barefoot/minimalist, clad, referring to yourself as Barefoot Joe, etc.)
• the self-proclaimed "OG," the good ol' days, etc.
• irrational conservatism-unexplainably holding on to the first pair of minimalist shoes you bought and proclaiming every advancement to be a heretical desecration of their infallibility.
• smugness and elitism in general.

Things I like:

• Attention to role of biomechanics in running. Running seems to be more of a learned skill than an instinct.
• Shake up in old running paradigms. No longer are we taking for granted that more protection is necessarily better.
• The variety of products filling new niches in running preferences. Everything from barefoot style to just simple designs.