The Natural Running Symposium took place in October of 2010 at the Maine Running Company. Danny Abshire from Newton Running, Kirsten Buchanan from Impact Sports Medicine and Jamie Raymond from Raymond Chiropractic joined John Rogers to talk about barefoot and natural running in front of a crowd of about 60 people.
Each speaker had their own take on what natural running means and why it is good for us, as well as when it isn’t.
This is the last video of the question and answer session that followed the presentation. The audience asked quite a few questions, such as whether there were kids shoes available that fit the requirements for natural running, when to know when you need to replace your Newtons, how to speed adaptation along, and whether barefoot and natural running is a fad or not.
Audience: I have a question back to the kids, well with you actually. I have a 7 year old that just started and doing triathlon this year. I want to get her from here until she’s old enough to wear Newtons for example without being trained to wear high heels or whatever is available for her.
John: I can tell you that there are kid’s shoes coming.
I mean Vibram Five Fingers for example are now getting into the kid’s shoes. I’d be interested to see how it’s executed, but they are going to bring out kids shoes.
Jamie: It’s become trendy, fortunately. You just get out there and look. You’re not going to find it advertised as a minimal shoe. It’s just going to be somebody who decided to make a really flat low-profile shoe.
John: And if you’re like my son. He’s 9 and he’s already a size 8. It depends.
Audience: I’ve been wearing Newtons for a couple of years. My question is when do you need a new pair of Newtons?
Danny: Are you getting high mileage?
Audience: Well, yeah!
Danny: Don’t be so shy about that.
Audience: So when do you know? What’s it kind of like? Do you not wear them anymore when they’re kind of gray?
Danny: You know what, the wild thing is you could wear the lugs completely off and it’s still functioning better than any other shoe, because the whole chamber and the membranes are working full-time. So you just don’t have as much propulsion as you did when they were new. Right?
Audience: But they feel great. I wear them for hundreds of miles with no socks. They’re like my blankie.
Danny: Well that’s what happens. They’re actually molding to the way you bend your right and left foot, because that’s different as well. Flexing differently, right and left foot. But try on a new pair, that’s the thing. That’s when you know.
That’s when you know. Because it’s like “Oh my god! These things are like totally loaded with power.”
Audience: In terms of surface, we all in this room probably run year round. And Newton, my blanky, is terrible in the snow. They’re terrible. Or Merrell Brooks in the snow. And it’s so horrible. It’s like I’m wearing spiked heels. So what do you do.
Danny: Well we’re only 3 years old, remember. Now we do have our Guidance here. It’s been our new trail shoe, which is awesome for crappy weather.
John: So we have time for probably 2 more questions.
Audience: I’m a newer runner. I’ve running for about 6 months. I guess apprehensive is the word. I did read Born to Run near the beginning. I wear a neutral shoe. I haven’t had any injuries and I’m running maybe 20 miles a week. I want to make that switch.
And you talked about your website having videos, you talked shortly about you’re going to do some clinics. Just what are the resources out there? I have Danny’s book, but I’m thinking of putting it all together and doing it slowly so I don’t hurt myself. Because I am addicted, and if I lose ability to do this…
Danny: You don’t go trying to go from “A” to “B” so fast. That’s the key. You don’t have enough miles behind you. You’re fresh.
Audience: I guess to follow that up, should I stay in a neutral shoe until I have more miles, or is it a good time to switch now?
Danny: Before you learn too many bad habits that you have to break. And that’s the thing, you don’t have a whole lot of bad habits, probably, right now. Do it when you’re mentally ready. When you’re ready, do it.
Jamie: I have a little different take on it.
As I’ve said earlier, I’m not into absolutisms, and I don’t believe that.
And I think that most of our customers are 15 to 20 mile a week runners. It’s probably 80%.
I think it’s about good form running. I think that Newton can be a tool, and an adaptation process has to take place. You should incorporate it while also wearing your current shoes, because your body is used to that and has adapted to it.
If you’re going to get into the barefoot thing, do what Jamie said. 5 minutes, run. The next week, maybe it’s twice a week initially. See if it’s right for you. It might not be.
And that’s what I truly do believe.
Kirsten: I think, Jamie, I just want to follow up with that. You said this before too. It took a while. It doesn’t just necessarily come in within 2 weeks, or maybe even 2 months. When you talked about it before, it was a year. Before he was kind of getting it and really feeling like it was starting to flow.
John: The other thing is, you trust your current shoes. Correct? So I always tell my customers, do you trust what you’re wearing? And there is some of that.
The adaptation process is part of that trust factor that you have to incorporate. Do you trust this shoe? Are you feeling it’s working for you? I think you have to use that as well.
One more question?
Audience: Do you guys think that the minimalism thing is a fad to some degree. And especially from a shoe perspective, will that eventually kind of go away.
You said that a lot of companies are introducing new shoes to their line next Spring. But how long do you think those will last?
John: I don’t think it’s a fad. I think is an evolution.
I think the shoe companies needed a kick in the pants. And the traditional shoes have worked for a number of years for a number of people. It’s a new way to look at running and try to build shoes that can help you with better running form.
And you’re going to see a slew of it. And you’re going to see other shoe companies start to take those heel heights down and incorporate those features into their shoes.
Newton, obviously has a proprietary system that works, that puts you into that natural running state. And it actually helps you.
Getting to good running form is work, and the trouble with a lot of people is, no offense, but we’re all lazy. It takes work, and then you have got to really practice it.
So one of the things that I’ve learned is that we do need to do good form or natural running clinics. Like Saturdays. We’re going to limit it. We’re going to say it’s 10 people. And we’re going to really focus on good running form. And it may only be for half an hour, but people have to learn the mechanics of it and then they have to practice it.
They have to practice it. You can practice it at home while you’re watching TV.
So that’s what it is. It’s repetition. It’s called adaptation for a reason, and you have to let that body adapt to it.
So that’s how I feel. I think use it with caution and use it in the correct manner and let your body adapt, and it will work for you.
Jamie: I think what we’ve seen over the past 30 years is the fad. If you look at it in the context, there’s like 2 million years of evolution. So what’s the fad?
John: All right! That’s it for tonight, and I hope you enjoyed it.
I just want to thank our panel for taking a time out from their busy schedule. And Danny, thank you for coming out, I know you have a big event in Boston this weekend and we’re fortunate enough to have him here.
All of the videos from the natural running symposium are now online! If you’d like to watch the entire presentation (almost 90 minutes) in one go, or if you are interested in downloading a PDF of the full transcription of the entire presentation and Q & A session, then just enter your email address here and I’ll send you the information about where you can do so:
Running barefoot blows my mind. I know that the Internet Marketer Tellman Knutson was running barefoot -- well Vibram 5 fingers -- and he was planning to ran across the country to raise money for homeless youth. I know that he quit this and I don’t know why. I imagine that barefoot running is hard.
The Natural Running Symposium took place in October of 2010 at the Maine Running Company. Danny Abshire from Newton Running, Kirsten Buchanan from Impact Sports Medicine and Jamie Raymond from Raymond Chiropractic joined John Rogers to talk about barefoot and natural running in front of a crowd of about 60 people. 
Running barefoot blows my mind. I know that the Internet Marketer Tellman Knutson was running barefoot -- well Vibram 5 fingers -- and he was planning to ran across the country to raise money for homeless youth. I know that he quit this and I don’t know why. I imagine that barefoot running is hard.