On sunday I ran a 12km marathon in 1 hour and 20 minutes. I feels good to accomplish that. I ran it pretty slow, and I ran the whole thing in water shoes (basically flats).

A couple of people asked me about my shoes so I told them I was representing the barefoot faction.

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We have only been running in shoes with lots of cushioning (and even worse, arch support, etc) for 41 years. Ever since the birth of Nike. Before that, the shoes we had were thin and flat – not much different from going barefoot, just enough to keep our feet warm and comfortable.

That is 41 years compared to the million years of upright walking and running that we have behind us. Homo erectus was fully bipedal and existed 1 and a half million years ago.

Interestingly, there is no scientific support for padded heel shoes. Scientific studies haven’t actually been able to show that injury rates are lower with running shoes, in fact, shoes appear to do the reverse – increase injury rates. Yet we all have unconditionally accepted shoes as being absolutely necessary to run in.

I would call it one of the greatest tragedies of humanity.

I am out to prove that running barefoot or in flats is the best and safest method of long distance running. I want to prove to myself that shoes are unnecessary.

It feels incredibly weird to be a barefoot runner amongst hundreds of other runners. It is so weird to go against something that has been deeply accepted, shoes with padded heels. But I do my best to focus on my own results.