[beaumartinez]

I've always heard a lot of this is due to improper running technique, since shoe technology shifted to a heavily-padded heel. This in turn made people more likely to land on the heel, which sends the shock right up the leg, into the knee.

Barefoot running, and less padded shoes, promote landing on the balls of your feet (as otherwise it's incredibly painful!). Landing on the balls of your feet allows your foot to reduce the force that gets shot up the leg.

[elwell]

Running barefoot on pavement in the city doesn't work very well. Every time I try it for a significant journey, I can barely walk for a week due to blisters and small glass fragments. Also, people, rightly, stare at me like I'm insane.

[meritt]

Just get some "barefoot" shoes. I use merrell trail glove.

[t4ngent]

Agreed, merrell trail gloves are great shoes. I run 60-70km per week in them.

I highly recommend barefoot style shoes in general, but you do have to acclimate to them slowly while you build up your foot strength.

After building foot strength in 'barefoot' shoes, I can now run much faster in any kind of shoe.

[uberalex]

How do they compare to Vibrams? I tried to get a pair of KSO or Bikila last time I was in the USA, but all the shops have stopped stocking them since the company settled a lawsuit.

[kazinator]

Some years ago I did a bunch of barefoot running on rubber running tracks. I had some blistering from that, but otherwise it's okay. It feels great. I wouldn't go on roads and trails; that's just asking for a nasty cut and infection. With time, you probably build up some thick skin from that which protects you.

If you want an almost barefoot like experience, just get very light shoes, like middle-distance spikes, and train on tracks some of the time. Then do your long, easy miles in cushioned road shoes like a normal person.

By the way, my father recalls seeing Abebe Bikila win the 1961 Košice Peace Marathon, barefoot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%A1ice_Peace_Marathon

[hawkice]

My first attempt at barefoot running on cement was a 5k -- the blisters are killer. Couldn't even stand without fairly extreme pain.

I think the notion is to work your way up a lot slower than I did, but I haven't made the same attempt again.

[dont_be_mean]

That's it. Learn to run on the balls of your feet. It reduces the shock to the knees by such an amount that I can't run in any other way now.