Re: Did I Ever Claim Not To Be A Total Dork?

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<insert real surname here>, Total, Dork and Howe


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 9:43 AM
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I'm terrified of those shoes because I have this ridiculous ability to catch my pinky toe on things and almost break my foot. I wear a lot of socks to keep my feet safe. But everyone I know who has a pair loves them.


Posted by: LizSpigot | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:03 AM
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They are becoming more and more common at my gym, but I've never seen a woman wear them. I did see one guy wear them while doing terrifying yoga inversion handstands, though.

They're pretty comfortable, and the gouged scar in my left heel could tell you that I've always enjoyed going barefoot, but I wear them only when I'm feeling particularly whimsical hardcore.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:04 AM
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but I feel immensely more sure of my footing at high speeds,

This makes me sound like a pompous ass, but do you really feel unsure at high speeds? I'm assuming we're not talking about tearing down a craggy hillside.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:05 AM
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I'm unsure at any speed.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:14 AM
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4: From my limited experience on treadmills I can see this.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:17 AM
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4: I could see this. Especially if you're kind of pushing it, continuing to run fast-ish when you're becoming quite tired: then you may not be picking up your feet quite as well as you should be, and can feel like you could trip over the tips of your regular sneakers.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:24 AM
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Good lord, no. Also, go to Crossfit LB!


Posted by: Robert halford | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:24 AM
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I can't run as exercise since I get immediate tendon strain. It's strange, my body is pretty damn durable with most forms of exercise. Fitness permitting, I can go on a long bike ride or hike with a crazy amount of steep, uneven downhill vertical feet, and I'll be fine other than muscle fatigue. But a short run and I'm hobbled.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:32 AM
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A cow-orker has 'em and loves 'em. I ended up with these shoes, which apparently are from a biking-company-turned-running-company. They're insanely pleasing to run in, what with the springiness.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:34 AM
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I have a feeling that those would wound me -- not only aesthetically, either. I have narrow feet with low arches, and I end up pretty miserable if I run in shoes not made for feet so afflicted.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:35 AM
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On the shoes, they seem horrible to me, but not on aesthetic grounds. I want lots of support and cushioning for my feet when exercising.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:45 AM
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How do you try those shoes on for size? Socks with toes? (I'm actually supposed to go to REI in a few minutes, so I could ask.)


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:47 AM
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||

The person near me at this café has a book titled Political Systems of Highland Burma. That's a very specific topic for what seems to be a 300-plus-page book.

|>


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:51 AM
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BPL-approved!


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:52 AM
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My high school library had a three volume history of Greenland covering the period from the late eighteenth to the mid nineteenth centuries.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 10:55 AM
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I see a guy who runs barefoot in the neighborhood near my workplace, and he has the oddest running style. He's not stepping out, not lifting his knees very high -- a very short stride, about like what you'd use for just regular walking along, if not shorter. He's not leaping forward and pushing off the balls of his feet, if you see what I mean; he seems to plunk each foot down squarely (not possible - I'm sure there's a heel to toe action going on, as there must be in any walking). It almost looks like a shuffle. Very little swinging of the arms.

At first I thought he might be taking care in case he stepped on something sharp, and that may be, but having seen him close to a dozen times now, it doesn't look like this is an experiment for him. He looks like he could run in that manner all day long -- not remotely winded, not absorbed in his own head, just kind of calmly going along.

I've listened to a handful of radio interviews with people championing barefoot running, and they frequently say that it calls for a rather different movement and stride, that they were inspired by various native barefoot-running populations who can run long distances, and that it greatly reduces injury flare-ups.

Maybe that's what this guy is doing. It's kind of fascinating. It looks so weird.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 11:01 AM
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17 That sounds a bit like the way you run down a mountain path: upper body stiffly upright, arms out a bit away from your body for balance but not swinging at all, very short quick steps while keeping your knees bent.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 11:08 AM
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That's the general description, upper body stiffly upright, but he's running along a level sidewalk and almost looks like he's dragging his heels. Strange-looking; and I assuming it's about the bare-footedness, unless that's a coincidence somehow.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 11:20 AM
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14 and 16 sound perfect!


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 11:35 AM
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I'm sure there's a heel to toe action going on, as there must be in any walking

Aren't barefoot runners supposed to land on the toes and ball of foot first?

Based on the first barefoot running site I found (http://therunningbarefoot.com/?page_id=525), I think yes--they say if your heel never hits the ground you need to relax your calves. Overall it sounds like he's doing it right:
1. Relax.
2. Keep your torso upright and balanced: no slouching forward.
3. Bend your knees: feel the weight come off your heels.
4. Gently push your hips forward: let them lead the way, not your head or your shoulders.
5. Lift your feet early and quickly: start lifting your feet before you land.
6. Lift the front of your trailing foot: keep your heel down, and avoid pushing off. You want to lift, not push.
7. Move your feet under your centre of balance: don't wobble side to side.
8. Counterbalance: let your hips rotate with your legs, and your shoulders move in the opposite direction.
9. Swing each leg around from the side: imagine a line stretched out before you, and each foot has to land on that line, one in front of the other. If you were leaving footprints, they'd be in a straight line, not side by side.
10. Keep your head facing forward: pick a spot in the distance and focus on it. Use your eyes to scan the surface in front of you, but keep going back to that spot.



Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:10 PM
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Aren't barefoot runners supposed to land on the toes and ball of foot first?

Yes! Okay, that looks like exactly what he's doing. That's what makes it look like he's planting each foot firmly flat down, which isn't exactly what's going on, but it's unlike what we usually do.

And the rest, yes, especially (4). And (7). And all the rest.

Thanks, mcmc. I'm smiling at this guy from a distance.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:26 PM
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No cheap parking, so I didn't get to ask the REI people about the toe shoes. I circled in the car.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:40 PM
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My brother has a pair of Five Fingers and loves them.

I coach a guy who is a barefoot runner. He is really into it, and tries to convince everyone else to join him. Might be like an Amway thing.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:45 PM
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He gets money every time somebody runs without shoes?


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:49 PM
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From the way he promotes it, I suspect so.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:52 PM
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That's a very specific topic for what seems to be a 300-plus-page book.

Maybe it's mostly footnotes.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 1:57 PM
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True, and that comment also makes clear that Stanley never was in a humanities/social science grad program.


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:13 PM
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28: You say that like it's a bad thing.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:14 PM
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It reduces your chances for experimenting with mind altering pharmaceuticals.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:23 PM
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I run in these things, and haven't broken any of my toes yet. The calf soreness will go away, and then you'll have awesome calves.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:23 PM
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then you'll have awesome calves

Alternatively, you could encourage some cows to mate.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:26 PM
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encourage some cows to mate.

I'm all about that, but it's never resulted in calves.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:27 PM
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Aren't barefoot runners supposed to land on the toes and ball of foot first?

This is actually how all runners are supposed to run.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:31 PM
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It's like 2008 all over again.

http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2008_05_18.html#008756


Posted by: ed bowlinger | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:48 PM
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pwned in 15, ed.


Posted by: nosflow | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 2:50 PM
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But I added value by actually buying and running in the goofy things. Ogged merely considered them.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 3:11 PM
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What some people will do for the blog!


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 5:31 PM
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you could encourage some cows to mate

You'd have even better success if you tried to got a bull involved.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 5:32 PM
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Homophobe.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 5:34 PM
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I don't wear my toe shoes to the gym to lift/erg, just to run out of doors. I wear normal trainers there.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 12- 5-10 5:55 PM
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LB, any chance of a post on this? It combines two of the Unfogged interests: food, and tubes.


Posted by: Charlie | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 7:15 AM
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Doesn't NYC have a central area already served by tubes? I think I read somewhere that the mail went around part of Manhattan that way.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 7:26 AM
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39: Because Charley Carp is a feminist.


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 7:38 AM
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At the high-end, I think most calves now come from the combination of a cow, a vet, and a thermos full of liquid love.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 7:49 AM
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Which does involve a bull, even if at a remove.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 7:49 AM
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http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda-weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm


pwn pwn pwn pwn pwn


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 8:03 AM
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RTFA: it's the Alameda-Weehawken Burrito Tunnel.

On preview ttampwnd, but I added value.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 8:04 AM
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The soul of 'Wired' magazine is in that Burrito tunnel piece. I wonder if 'Wired' should be allowed to have it back?


Posted by: Charlie | Link to this comment | 12- 6-10 10:04 AM
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