the.purest.form

**This post was originally written July 19th and then accidentally deleted from the site. Thanks to a faithful RSS feed subscriber, I was able to recover it. Enjoy!**

In a recent NPR story on All Things Considered, anthro professor Dan Lieberman calls running the "purest form" of exercise. I love the sound of that.

Pure.

It sounds so unadulterated. So untethered. So "uncut."

Running is pure. It's freeing. It requires little more than a pair of running shoes and sometimes not even that at all. There is actually a throng of runners who subscribe to the "barefoot running" method. It makes my feet hurt and my shins cry out just thinking about it. But apparently, my head has it all wrong because the "experts" say that barefoot running is actually more natural and is, thus, safer and less prone to injury. I've never tried it--I overpronate according to the running store where I buy my shoes and I fear twisting my ankle or developing tendonitis because my ankles aren't well supported. But then I wonder if the shoes just aren't the culprit. I mean, stability shoes, non-stability, light-stability--have the mere use of shoes caused us the need to "correct" the ways that we run? Would running barefoot from the start put us all on "equal footing" (pun intended)?

Running barefoot is actually more efficient than wearing shoes, according to Lieberman who studies endurance running as a unique human ability. Running barefoot actually causes you to land on the balls of your feet (too painful to land on your heal), which not only protects that part of your foot but also transfers energy into your foot ligaments and Achilles tendon thereby acting like rubberbands--giving you a bit of a "spring" in your step. Again, pun intended :)

Listening to this story (and here it is in case you'd like to read or listen to it http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128626037) made me think of how we tend to make things so much more complicated than they are--like exercise for instance. Is an elliptical machine the purist form of exercise? What about rowing without going anywhere in the gym? Or walking in place on a treadmill? Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking gyms. My gym is certainly key in keeping me fit. But at what point in our lives did we need gyms to keep us active? Why does "working out" have to feel just like it sounds--like work? What would happen if we gave ourselves over to "the purest form" of exercise and just ran, or skipped, or jumped, or danced, or just moved forward in our daily lives? What is it that keeps us from being energized and moved by the world around us?

Ok, ok, I know that time and busyness and schedules and kids and families and jobs keep us from just getting out there and just moving. I know that, ironically, the discipline of the gym may actually be what keeps some of us going back (b/c we can "schedule" it among the other busyness of our lives). And I also know that some of us are actually really good at enjoying life and getting fit while doing so, that we aren't all tied down to the gym. But it's worth thinking about.

I think one of the reasons running is so popular is that it doesn't tie you down to the gym or any one place. You can run anywhere, at any time, shoes or no shoes. You can run on hills on flat ground on trails on dirt on pavement. You can run around your neighborhood on a running trail in a park in the city in the country around a lake on the beach. Anywhere. Any time.

That's what makes it so pure.

So--what is your favorite form of "pure" exercise? A hike? A bike ride? Walking your dog? Playing tag with your kids? Gardening? Yoga?

I'd like to know :)

Happy trails!