Chris – Hopefully you get this email. I wanted to thank you for your book as you truly have saved me from surgery and reenergized my running. I have been very active my whole life, wrestling year round (running sprints barefoot during high school) and the Marine Corp (all training done in combat boots that…

I know why I got such a jolt out of iskiate, the Tarahumara’s Stone Age energy brew, when I was down in the Copper Canyons — I was dehydrated and hurting for calories. So was Carl Lumholtz, the great Norwegian explorer, when he explored Tarahumara country in the 1800s and took his first stunned swallows:…

Angela Raines got a super upclose seat at the Boulder Book Store talk, but it didn’t come cheap. “I got to sit cross-legged on the floor,” she reports, “inches away from the author’s very own, bare and slightly grimey, feet.” (I’d gone on a dusty trail run that afternoon in a pair of Barefoot Ted’s…

Thanks to Wisconsin public radio and the excellent host of “Here on Earth,” I got the chance to tell the story behind the story of Born to Run

“Early humans ran very comfortably without shoes. Research has proven that the barefoot strike pattern is much less stressful.” —Dr. Maura Isles, showing up for the “Massachusetts Marathon” in a pair of Vibram Fivefingers

My thanks to Kris Wood, who somehow managed to shoot this great video while dodging bikes and cabs and crossing two major bridges. Barefoot Run from Kris wood on Vimeo.

Tonight, Aug. 11, we’ll be greeted in Marcus Garvey Park and serenaded off by none other than M’Bemba, the Mali grand master drummer.

It’s going to be a toasty out there tomorrow. Water stops are going to be necessary but hit or miss, so make sure to bring a handheld, waistpack or hydration pack, like this or this. We’ll stop to refuel along the way, but with a group of 70-some (and counting) runners, everyone is going to…

Word Bookstore announced that everyone who makes the run will be admitted to the reading that night for free, waiving the $25 charge. That’s right: your sweat-funk just acquired a dollar value, and for one day only, one store in New York will be shoes-optional. Live it up.

What this isn’t: A race, a tough guy contest, or a trial by fiery sidewalk (although it’s supposed to be pretty stinking hot on Wednesday). What it is: A fun run. That, plus a celebration that the dismal days of being afraid of running are coming to an end. Fast, light-footed running has nothing to…