Sacramento Running News

I have been known to gently tease the fans of barefoot running, and wearers of minimalist shoes. However, I’m not against running barefoot, but in fact believe it can be a helpful training tool.

As part of my training for CIM, I ran a mile or so barefoot on grass a couple of evenings a week. I gave it up when the days got shorter and it was too dark after work to spot the dog-doo.

A non-running friend of mine told me about a coworker sharing his devotion to barefoot running, saying that we’d evolved to run barefoot. My friend wondered if maybe we had evolved to invent shoes.

Let’s just say I’m a bit skeptical about the hype. Barefoot running zealots claim that running barefoot will cure almost any running related ailment. If you are injured while running barefoot, they say, it is because you are doing it wrong.

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Yesterday, I stumbled on this rather startling interview of Marion Jones on the Daily Show.

You may remember Marion Jones from the 2000 Olympics, where she was an unstoppable and glamorous force for the US team, winning the hearts of Americans and five medals.

That summer, there was a whiff of scandal as we learned her shot-putter husband, C.J. Hunter, had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. (In his case, I think “doped to the gills” was the actual, scientific term used.)

By 2004, when Jones came to Sacramento for the Olympic trials, rumors related to the BALCO doping scandal were swirling and she was a pale imitation of  the runner we’d seen in Sydney.

While it seemed everyone around her was tainted, it wouldn’t be until 2006 that Jones failed a doping test (for EPO). However, the “B” sample tested negative and Jones went back to competition.

During the federal investigation of BALCO, Jones was finally boxed into a corner and she admitted to perjuring herself, and to using steroids during training for the 2000 Olympics.

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