Eschew the shoe

Fans got to see all types at last month's Davis Turkey Trot 10K run. That guy wearing the turkey hat certainly stuck out from the madding crowd. So, too, did the armada of new parents huffing and puffing with their little ones bundled in baby joggers.

Yet, to the spectators lining the course on a chilly Saturday morning, the sight of Noah Elhardt motoring through at a sub-40 minute pace – to be followed a few minutes later by Efrem Rensi – drew the biggest reaction.

"Hey, look at the guy with no shoes!"

"It's a barefoot runner!"

"All right, man. Keep it goin'."

But this was no freak show, and certainly not an attention- getting ploy.

Elhardt, 22, and Rensi, 35, are serious recreational athletes and part of a running subculture – too small, perhaps, to be labeled a movement – that eschews shoes.

They run the way they say man was meant to trod and, in fact, did trod for centuries – unshod and unfettered.

This, of course, goes against societal norms, not to mention the medical advice from the vast majority of podiatrists and biomechanical experts.

Runners of all calibers spend billions per year on high-tech running shoes meant to correct faulty foot strikes and to cushion the pounding of the pavement. Many an orthopedic physician's second home in the wine country has been paid for by recreational runners' injuries from insufficient footwear.

But for runners such as Elhardt and Rensi, the answer is exceedingly low-tech. Make that no-tech, actually.

For Rensi, a graduate student in mathematics at UC Davis, the decision to run barefoot was an act of desperation after years of knee pain.

"I went to a doctor, finally, and he told me I was over- pronating," Rensi says. "He said I needed a motion-controlled (running) shoe. After a year of buying the most (sturdy) shoes out there, I still had problems. So I did some Web research about barefoot running."

It's been three years since Rensi doffed the running shoes, and he's run a series of 10Ks and half-marathons without pain caused by over-pronating, or having too much inward rolling motion of the foot during a stride. Sure, he says he occasionally steps on something that gets lodged in the soles of his feet, but he says he carries tiny tweezers with him everywhere.

The transition to barefoot running was eased, he says, because running actually had been the only time he consistently wore shoes. And that conditioned his soles to endure stray pebbles or glass shards.

Leathery soles but no calluses

See, for Rensi and Elhardt, going barefoot is a 24-7 activity. They call it a lifestyle choice, not an overtly political statement.

"You can't just take off your shoes and run a marathon," says Elhardt, a UC Davis undergraduate. "I was a barefooter first, then I started running. I've done some orienteering barefoot and play ultimate Frisbee. So my feet are used to it."

Indeed, Rensi walked the streets adapting his soles to the terrain before running. He said he quickly developed a thick layer of skin on the bottom of his feet that feels more leathery than calloused.

That, he says, gives him the support to run long distances barefoot. And the unfettered foot strike makes his form more natural. His over-pronation problem has vanished, he says.

"The higher level of sensory perception on the soles forces you to run way easier on your body," Rensi says. "With shoes, you're striking your heel first and it jars your body. Now, you kind of roll on the ball of your foot."

Elhardt: "It just feels more natural."

The barefoot Olympians

Proponents of barefoot running tout the accomplishments of 1960 Olympic marathon winner Abebe Bikila and 1984 Olympian Zola Budd, and also point to two research studies to support that belief.

In 2001, Australian researcher Michael Warburton reported in the publication Gateway Physiotherapy: "Running barefoot is associated with a substantially lower prevalence of acute injuries of the ankle and chronic injuries of the lower leg in developing countries." But, he added, "Well- designed (research) of the effects of barefoot and shod running on injury are lacking."

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Sam McManis, (916) 321-1145.