Okay, Pop Quiz time:

Which of the following fictitious barefoot running shoes gives you more of a barefoot feel:

a.) ASICs  Nuttin’-2C with a 10mm thick sole
b.) Brooks Zilch-City with a 1mm thick sole

If you answered B, you’re mistaken.

But if you answered A, you’re also wrong.

Yes, my apologies, but this was a trick question.

In the barefoot/minimalist footwear world, there are several  concepts buzzing around, ideas upon which runners make buying decisions, that are potentially red herrings. In other words, these concepts can be used to inform or mislead, depending on how they’re used and how much other information comes along for the ride.

And “sole thickness” is a biggie.

If you look at ads for various minimalist and barefoot footwear products, sole thickness is highlighted.  Sometimes bragged about. Thinner soles, some believe, are inherently better than thicker. Unless you’re a trail runner, then slightly thicker is better. Confused yet?

You should be. Because, it’s not that simple.

Let’s go back to my trick question.. The reason neither answer is correct is that I didn’t tell you what the soles are made of.

If the 10mm sole was made of cotton candy, you may as well be running on the ground.

But if the 1mm sole was made stainless steel, or carbon nanotubes, you wouldn’t be able to tell if you were on the ground at all.

I’m exaggerating for effect — both comic and practical. But looking out in the market, you’ll see sole thickness used as a seeming shorthand for “barefootedness.” In other words,  “thinner” means closer to barefoot.

I recently had an Invisible Shoes customer call me and tell me about his particular brand of minimalist shoe and how it advertised a 3mm sole. He wanted to know whether I thought his shoe was “more barefoot” than our 4mm Connect barefoot sandal.

“Great,” I said, knowing the shoe in question. “It’s only 3mm thick. But is it flexible? Can you roll it into a tube?”

“Well, no,” he said, clearly trying. “It’s pretty rigid.”

“And if put on that shoe and you stepped on a nail, how similar would  that feel to stepping on it barefoot? “Wait!” I added, hoping I wasn’t too late to avoid a lawsuit, “Don’t actually step on a nail to check!”

I continued, “If you look inside that shoe, can you see the extra 2-3mm of insole padding they added to the 3mm outer sole?”

“Uh-huh.”

I could hear in his voice the first stages of someone starting to see through the fog of marketing hype.

Many shoe marketers suggest, and many minimalist shoe buyers believe, that sole thickness is equivalent to “barefoot feel.” It’s not. It’s more complicated than that.

When it comes to minimalist shoes, I feel compelled to paraphrase a line than no man wants to hear from a woman, “Honey, thickness isn’t everything.”

As the barefoot running boom continues to explode, it’s important that we debunk the mythology that’s sprung up and face some facts. And perhaps the most obvious fact is this:

If you run with anything between your skin and the ground, you are not barefoot runner.

Let me say that again. If you wear Vibram Fivefingers, New Balance Minimus, Merrell Trail Gloves, Altra Adams, Vivobarefoot shoes, Newtons, Inov8 shoes, even our Invisible Shoes huaraches running sandals, you are not a barefoot runner.

I don’t care if your previous shoes were padded stilts and your new shoes are a “zero-drop” natural movement minimalist shoe, if you’ve got something on your feet you’re not barefoot running.

Barefoot running means that you run in bare feet. Period.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that if you’ve just spent $125 on your Vibram Bikilas you need to throw them away, or that if there’s a barefoot running Meetup you can’t be part of the cool clique. And I’m not saying everyone needs to be barefoot. And, clearly, I’m not saying “don’t buy Invisible Shoes”

But it’s important that we differentiate actual barefoot running from minimalist running.

Why?

Because more often than some would like to admit, barefoot running and minimalist running do not produce the same results.

The promise of barefoot running is that the sensations you get when your skin contacts the ground — often known as pain — teach you proper running form. That is, if you change your form to make the pain go away, you’ll have a more efficient, lighter, easier stride, and you’ll be able to run pain-free for life.

Anything that you put on your feet reduces the amount of sensation you feel and can interfere with the feedback loop that barefoot running gives which produces those benefits.

Again, I’m not saying that you don’t get feedback from minimalist shoes. You certainly get more than you do when you’ve got 2″ of padding in your  Nike I Can’t Feel The Grounds. As the developer of Invisible Shoes, I know hundreds of people who switched to our sandals, improved their running  form, eliminated life-long aches and pains, and now enjoy running ultra-marathons. As one of our early customers put it, “Invisible Shoes are just like being barefoot… if they covered the world in a thin layer of comfortable rubber.”

But, I’ve also met a LOT people who bought a pair of Vibrams or Merrells (or any other minimalist shoe), soon became injured, and now tell everyone they know that “barefoot running” is dangerous… and they’ve never run barefoot!

I’ve been on a number of barefoot running panel discussions and, inevitably, there will be some number of doctors, physical therapists, podiatrists and other medical professionals who say, smugly, “Hey, stick with this barefoot running thing. All the people getting hurt by doing it are putting my kids through college!”

Before they can finish chuckling, I fire back:

Me: “You know, of course, that all you guys made the exact same joke 40 years ago when running shoes were invented, right? And you know that people who have no problems running barefoot — and ones who get cured of injuries by running barefoot — will not come to see you, right?”

Them: “Uh…”

Then I pull out the bigger guns: “And when a patient tells you they got hurt from barefoot running, did you ask if they were actually in bare feet? Did you check to see if they simply over-trained by doing too much, too soon? And, maybe most importantly, did you take a video of them running so you could analyze their form and see if they were simply using the same injury-producing mechanics they used when they wore shoes? Or did you see if they were trying to stay on their toes, putting extra strain on their calves and Achilles, because they have a mistaken ideas about proper barefoot form?”

Them: “Uh…”

Barefoot running is more than switching to a minimalist shoe. And it’s more than simply removing your shoes. Don’t believe me? Go to a barefoot running event, find the people in their minimalist shoes, and see which ones are still landing on their heels, as if they’re still in motion controlled running shoes.

In fact, be on the lookout for runners who are actually barefoot doing the same thing! Some of us are either unable to feel those important form-changing sensations, or unable (without coaching) to actually make form changes in order to find a painless way of moving.

For an example of this, check out Pete Larson’s video of the recent NYC Barefoot Run. Most of the VFF wearers, and a handful of barefoot runners are still landing on their heels. (I was there and noticed the same thing, but I didn’t have the brains to video tape it… so, Thanks, Pete!)

Let’s wrap this up with a wish: If you’re one of those “barefoot” runners who has never run barefoot, I can’t encourage you enough to try it. Don’t think there’s some transition you need to go through before you’re “ready.” Ironically, the best advice I can give you is: Just Do It!

Get on a good clean hard surface (a bike path is great, streets work too) and go for a run. Listen to your feet, if they hurt, try to move in some different way so that they don’t. And if you can’t figure out how, then stop and try again another day. Don’t think you need to build up callouses; none of us who successfully run barefoot have any (they’re another sign that you’re doing something wrong). If you can find a coach or some training, get some guidance.

Report back here with what you discover.

The goal is not to be barefoot all the time. The goal is to be flexible. To be able to run comfortably, easily, and enjoyably under any circumstance. To know when barefoot is the best option and when something under your feet is called for. I wear my Invisible Shoes for all my walking, hiking, and getting into restaurants. I’m barefoot for a lot of my sprinting training. But, hey, I still wear running shoes, too… when I have to shovel a 2′ Colorado snowfall.

Jordan Flowers just posted his review of Invisible Shoes and often mentions “other huaraches”, without mentioning names… but it’s kind of obvious who the comparison is to if you’ve been looking at huaraches.

I must say that I’m thrilled to see someone independently discovering what we’ve been saying for 2 years

Enjoy his review of Invisible Shoes here.