I read the book. I’m drinking the cool aid. Ran my little 5k today without shoes and realized a bunch of things:

1. Running barefoot you spend a lot more time looking where you’re going and thinking about your landings.

2. Running barefoot eliminates the noise of a Clydesdale class runner plodding along. When I used to run with headphones, my rule was that I had to be able to hear my feet landing, which was definitely cheating because the smack of shoe on pavement was so loud.

3. With super flat feet — a friend once described my feet as pancakes with stubs — running shoes just add another inch for me to roll my ankle over.

4. Running without shoes reminds you how heavy running shoes — even good running shoes — are. My feet felt so much lighter and it made running that much easier.