Paleo Running

A distance runner and evolutionary biologist decided to look at barefoot runners. Only question: do you go to the physical environment that our earliest modern-human ancestors lived in, or do you go to a part of the world known for great distance runners who also run without shoes? Turns out it's the same answer for both: the Rift Valley in Kenya. And it turns out that biomechanically, barefoot runners land on the balls of their feet, which lessens the strike impact. It makes sense that this would mean less abuse to the joints and a longer running career - which you need if you're going to be chasing after game herds until you're old - but the real test would be to look at these folks when they're older and compare to a control group. Finding that control group would be tough.

As for me, I would love to "paleo run" and switch over to barefoot, but unfortunately our ancestors (and apparently the people of the Rift Valley) didn't have nails and glass. Next question: the Tarahumara usually run in home-made sandals, but what is their form like?