[infinotize]

It's not "common knowledge" especially for people who don't run, which is who the article is aimed at. It's also still a debatable issue. I'd say for new runners the key is to get into a routine and worry about stride only if it's causing you pain until you get to a more advanced stage.

[notacoward]

Waiting until you feel pain is waiting too long. Every runner, from day one, should learn enough about running dynamics and injury causes that they can recognize and do something about bad form (even if it's only "bad for them" form) before it gets to that point. That's where the article missed a chance to help. A paragraph or two about foot landing and body angle, why they matter and what to do about them, would have done a world of good. It doesn't take much. Instead we get "neither is better" and "don't worry about pronation" and no mention at all of anything above the knee. While it's true that not everyone runs the same way or should - I'm a bit of a supinator and I'm not likely to change - it's still important for people to understand right from the start that different running styles will have different effects.

"Whatever you do is OK" will just lead some people to be miserable even if they're not actually injured. Like every skill, there's knowledge involved in running. I personally would not have kept running past that first day if I hadn't learned enough to know that my misery might be because I was doing it wrong and that running differently might be worth a try. The way to get people into running is to coach them into it and make sure their early experiences are positive ones.