One of the most inspiring scientists and self-experimenting athletes is my good friend, Japanese running guru Dr. Hiro Tanaka. I had the privilege of first meeting Dr. Tanaka, a Professor at Fukuoka University, Japan, at the Boston Marathon in 2011 after giving a talk on minimal running and the benefits of “easy.” Dr. Tanaka showed…
Take The JFK/Freedom’s Run Challenge And Help Recharge The Change That JFK Envisioned For Our Country 70 Runners have completed the JFK/FR Challenge in 2015 and 2016. Are you up for the challenge this year? Challenge Shirt Logo Design for Completers In the late 1950’s a warning sounded. Almost 58 percent of American children were unable…
What is special about running? Why not just walk, cycle, swim, do some elliptical or maybe the “Gazelle”, or just squat repeated times through the day? My cousin Meaghan Cusack explained it all when she spoke to a group of physicians at a recent Healthy Running conference in Chicago. Meaghan is a self-addicted 5K runner…
A week ago I received an email from a colleague in running retail, Eric Johnson, who is the general manager at Ultramax Sports, a “Top 50 Best Running Store in America.” Eric is really smart and gets it. He wrote, “This is by far the best video on prescribing running shoes I’ve run across.” This…
Adidas (it’s actually spelled with a lower-case “a”) has a long, storied history dating back to the 1920s. Two German brothers, Adi and Rudi Dassler, had started making sports shoes called Dassler in their mother’s laundry room. As sales steadily increased, they eventually expanded operations to a small factory in their home town of Herzogenaurach….
by Jim Hixson, CSCS It’s clear that minimalism is alive and well. Less shoe is thriving far beyond what naysayers and running magazines want us to believe. While mega-cushiony running shoes have taken over shoe walls at many independently owned stores (don’t get me started on big-box or running-chain stores), there’s still plenty of choices…
Discover newsworthy stories from all over the world on running –inspirational profiles, cool things and people, the weird and useful, injury prevention, diet, shoe reviews, videos, and a lot more. Just head over to the Natural Running Center Facebook page. Here are 15 of our more popular FB posts since the beginning of the year….
In the 80’s and 90’s, if you were serious about triathlon, you moved to one of the small, sleepy beachfront towns north of San Diego. Like surfers looking for the best swells, you wanted to be on the home turf of the world’s best triathletes, seeking out the steepest competition, for training, and then more…
by Bill Katovsky “Free range” is one of those terms that’s been in the news recently, and refers to parents’ dropping an over-protective, helicoptering approach to raising their children, and replacing it with much less restrictive control. It’s how childhood used to be. That was how it was with me and my brothers growing…
The new feature documentary, GOSHEN, reveals how the Tarahumara tribe’s ancient diet and active lifestyle can not only transform your personal health and fitness, but may be the key to preserving Tarahumara culture as well. Watch here via Vimeo. Own the DVD! GOSHEN is a powerful documentary depicting the diet and active lifestyle of the indigenous…
If you are reading this post, chances are you’re still very much a strong believer in minimalism, and have yet to drink from the maximalist Kool-Aid trough. Or if you have, it’s with extreme caution, and not in large mileage gulps. “Less shoe” is very much a key consideration for improved footstrike and body-ground spatial…
I recently spent time at the San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The ground floor of injury prevention for military members is Basic Military Training. For the US Air Force this is San Antonio-Lackland. Preventable injuries during physical praining in all the Armed Services costs millions of dollars a year in lost duty time…
by Jim Hixson, CSCS Minimalism isn’t going away. Too many runners have discovered for the first time what it’s like to run injury-free. They have awakened to the joy of a midfoot strike instead of heels hitting first, something that conventional running shoes with stiff, outsized crash pads pretty much guaranteed. But in the…
Teaching courses on healthy running is one of the greatest pleasures of work as an educator. I learn so much from the participants as we share experiences and variations on simple training principles that work to keep us healthy. The thing I like best is when after we tell a story, we do an exercise…
Part One, by Jim Hixson, CSCS It was exhilarating and vindicating to see the increase in the selection of lightweight, flat, thin, flexible shoes several years ago. But now the minimalist utopia is threatened by market forces. I looked at the 2014 survey Peter Larson had on Runblogger.com –two of the top 20 shoes were…
by Elinor Fish After successfully completing Colorado’s infamous Leadville Trail 100 several years ago, I was on cloud nine, dreaming about my next big endurance challenge. While my imagination soared, my body plummeted into depths of exhaustion I’d never before experienced. I couldn’t seem to recover from Leadville, and almost a year after the race…
by Sarah Young We were born to run. We were also made to move. Our birthright is movement in all its forms. As babies, we began laying the building blocks to be runners by doing such seemingly mundane things as lifting and controlling our big heads (which weighed about 1/3 of our baby bodyweight). As…
About once a week, the Natural Running Center will receive an email from a reader complaining about chronic plantar facsiitis pain in his or her foot. For these sufferers, conventional treatment ranges from orthotics to NSAIDS, neither of which are natural methods or recommended. Nor are they effective. These readers are looking for answers. Maybe…
by Dr. Ray McClanahan. During a vacation with my family in Hawaii, we attended a Luau, where nearly every native Hawaiian had beautiful spread toes and strong healthy feet. That is not often the case on the mainland. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was related to the fact that they work and live barefoot…
In preparation for my return to the JFK 50-mile run this weekend, I’d like to share my race report from the 2008 run. This top photo was taken at mile 48 and made the front page of the Hagerstown Herald Mail in Maryland. It captures the spirit of ultra running. I wanted to relive this…
After enjoying another Marine Corps Marathon (47th place in 2:49 age 48) curiosity led to digging into past races that stretch back several decades. So into the archives I plunged to see how many MCMs (I thought it was 22) and what the times were. So I contacted my friend and Marine Corps Marathon historian…
As you enter the week prior to the Marine Corps Marathon, or any marathon, here are a few visualizations to help you set your plan. Running your best 10K is mostly about fitness. Running your best marathon is part art, science, guts, and faith in what you can do. I’ve had the privilege of running …
by Dr. Phil Maffetone. With his day-glo orange racing flats flashing through the Berlin streets, Kenyan Dennis Kimetto blazed to a world record 2:02:57 marathon. The weather did not hinder his pace, and it may not have helped much either, as other race times were not particularly quick (third-place men’s time was almost 2:06, and…
Sharing the journey of friend and fellow Race Director Dave McGillivray. Dave directs the “Big Boy” races, including the Boston Marathon. His message of fitness vs. health is a must-read for all. From his extraordinary run across the U.S. to benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1978 to serving as technical director…
by Jay Dicharry. Running is pure. You may run for yourself, seeking to improve your time on your local neighborhood loop, or maybe simply to knock out the stresses of daily life. There are few other sports in the world in which you can compare yourself purely against the clock. It’s just you covering distance…