The Guardian asked me to weigh in on the bizarre decision by track’s governing body to suddenly change rules that have been in place for 40 years and nullify one of the greatest performances in modern sports: Paula Radcliffe’s world record in the marathon. Is it a coincidence that 23 of the 28 people who…

No study has ever shown that running shoes do anything to reduce injuries or improve performance. Yet the whole multi-billion dollar industry business is based on the marketing lie that running is dangerous if you’re not wearing some kind of super-cushioned or motion-controlling footwear. It’s amazing the shoe companies get away with it. But one…

…check out the mob at the NYC Barefoot Festival. Only 2 years old and already booming. Barefoot Ted’s monkey-powered cart was the No. 1 hit (well, excluding the free kegs of Smuttynose pale ale). Watching Ted both pull and be pulled caused Dr. Lieberman to label him “both a rickshaw wallah and a shirtless barefoot…

The Dipsea Demon made it a motto, John J. Kelley made it a tradition by barely slowing during decades of marathon, and the New York Times reports it’s now corroborated by German researchers: A few years ago researchers at the German Sports University Cologne took a close look at the finishing times of 400,000 marathon…

What are you reading for pleasure? Have you made it through any good books since becoming Vice President? I read a great deal, but not everything I read is for pleasure. Some of the books I’ve read recently are Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell; Switch by Chip and Dan Heath; The Icarus Syndrome by Peter Beinart;…

From Jenny Uehisa, who caught the showdown on film just when things were getting testy:

Peter Sarsgaard, who was a creative writing student under the great Stanley Elkin at Washington University before becoming an actor, talks about his vision for the Born to Run movie and about adding his own screenwriting touch to the script. He’s certainly done his homework, including: interviewing Barefoot Ted at the Leadville Trail 100; getting…

Kris Wood, you’re a guerrilla videographer genius: Barefoot Beer Run from Kris wood on Vimeo. And that’s some fine body art:

4th Ave Pub is on standby to welcome 60+ sweaty, semi-shod runners this evening at the end of our 8-ish mile Naked Run across Manhattan. Feel free to join us anywhere along the route. We’re leaving Central Park at around 5 (or whenever my friend and new Guinness Record Holder Chris Solarz manages to slip…

Barefoot Ken Bob weighs into the New York Times debate on barefoot running. As usual, his insight is the keenest. The response from Runner’s World? “Still anecdotal on key issues.” Sigh. Like watching the Titanic go down.