Reading, Running, and Wondering

I've spent the past few days reading Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall. I loved this book! Given that it is about hard core ultra athletes and a forgotten Mexican tribe, I thought I'd have little to relate to but McDougall writes as if he's having a conversation with you and I found myself hanging on to each word.
Born to Run is unbelievably informative - the book covers everything from the evolution of the human body to the creation of modern running shoes and the onslaught of injuries such as planter faciitis. McDougall's effortlessly details all aspects of his investigation into the ultrarunning world and a tribe of the world's greatest athletes. Along the way, McDougall provides honest yet lovable descriptions of those with him along the journey. I was sad when I reached the end of the book; I wanted to know more about the Party Kids and Caballo and Jurek... but more than that, I wanted to know what McDougall's secret is. In the time period described in this book, McDougall goes from a broken down runner to a man who is able to complete a 50 mile race in the Copper Canons with only the discomfort most of us would endure as a result of much shorter races. Is it simply a question of running form or is it more, as he hints at? Perhaps it is related to the mindset of a true runner which he describes as caring and unfailingly giving?

Given that McDougall started out on this journey as a result of pain in his foot from his planter fascia - what he calls the vampire bite of running injuries - and that I, too, suffer from PF, I am very curious as to how he got back on track. It took diligence and a great amount of effort, that is doubtless. But for all his endless facts about how and why running shoes are bad for you, he never says if he changed shoes or tried running barefoot himself. I buy into his story, though. I do think my feet are weak and I have noticed that wearing cushy shoes changes where I put my weight on my foot. My own struggles with PF has led me to believe that shoes cannot cure what ails you but they can make it worse.

While I don't see myself hopping on the barefoot bandwagon, I do think that I will try to strengthen my feet and pay more attention to my running form. I tried to do this yesterday during a short tempo run on the treadmill and I have to say that the actual act of running felt better as I tried to get my legs more "under me" but it also felt like a lot of work! Seems like my feet might not only be the only part of me that needs some strength-building sessions!