Voice 1 Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Joshua Leo Voice 2 And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1 Every April, people from all over the world gather in Boston, a city in the United States. They gather for a foot race called the Boston Marathon. A marathon is a little more than 42 kilometres long. More than 25,000 people ran the race in 2008, and that number grows each year. Running in this race is a goal for many people around the world.
Voice 2 Most people who run in the Boston Marathon are serious about their sport. They wear shoes that cost a lot of money. People who run long distances buy new shoes every three or four months. They might pay more than four hundred dollars in a year, just for shoes!
Voice 1 But are these shoes necessary? Do shoes actually protect runners? Today's Spotlight is on people who run without shoes - barefoot runners. Running shoes are a big business. Scientists and designers develop the shoes. They will spend years developing one design. The shoes are soft. They are designed to prevent injury. They also help people run fast.
Voice 2 But some people say that you do not need any of that. Every year, some people run the Boston Marathon without shoes. Ted McDonald is one of them. Ted has run without shoes for seven years. And he tries to get more people to run without shoes. Ted believes that running without shoes is better for his body. He also thinks that barefoot running makes him run faster. Ted talked to The Christian Science Monitor, a news magazine, about barefoot running. He said, Voice 3 "Barefoot running made me use good running form. It made me run gently. Heavy feet are not permitted." Voice 1 And Ted is not alone in this thought. More and more people are trying to run without shoes. The thinking is that running shoes block out the feeling of the running surface. When runners cannot feel the running surface, they often develop a bad running form. They hit the ground too hard with their feet. Barefoot runners can feel the ground. This means that barefoot runners do not hit their feet as hard on the running surface. Ted and other barefoot runners believe that they do not get as many injuries.
Voice 2 Barefoot running is a very old idea. Long ago, people used the skins of animals to cover their feet in cold weather. In warm weather they worked and hunted with feet that were not covered. People have run without shoes for centuries. Recently, Spotlight looked at a native group from Mexico, the Tarahumara. This group continues to run in this traditional way.
Voice 1 Scientists have studied the feet of very old skeletons. One area they look at is the skeleton's toes. People who wear shoes have a thick bone in the big toe. People who do not wear shoes have thick bones in the middle toes. These bones have gotten thicker as a result of the pressure from walking and running. Wearing shoes puts pressure on different parts of the foot and toes. Toe bones teach scientists that humans have been wearing shoes for forty thousand [40,000] years. Scientist know that humans did not wear shoes for a million years. For most of history, people ran with bare feet!
Voice 2 Today it is strange to see people running in bare feet. But, in 1960 in Rome, a young man questioned that idea. He was from Ethiopia. His name was Abebe Bikila. Abebe was in Rome to compete in the Olympic Games. His event was the marathon.
Voice 1 Abebe came to the starting line in bare feet. Some people laughed at him. They wondered where his shoes were. This did not worry Abebe. When the starting gun went off, Abebe ran. He ran fast. He came in first and earned a gold medal. He also set a world record. John Kelley ran the marathon in Rome, too. He was behind Abebe. He told Runners World magazine about the race. He said, Voice 4 "We had to run on huge, round cobblestones. These stones were set into the road to cover it. They were very hard. I remember that I was afraid of stepping too hard. I still cannot imagine how Abebe did it." Voice 1 Daniel Lieberman is a teacher at Harvard University. Lieberman studies biology. Lieberman went to Kenya to study people who always run barefoot. He learned that barefoot runners land on the front part of the foot - the ball of the foot. Lieberman told Science Daily magazine, Voice 5 "Our feet were made for running. Humans have been running barefoot for millions of years." Voice 2 If you try running with running shoes and then barefoot, you can feel the change. Barefoot runners land on the front of the foot. Landing on the front of the foot allows the foot to spring back up. Having spring in the foot is easier on the runner's body. Barefoot runners use different parts of their feet and legs when they run. Their bodies grow strong in different places.
Voice 1 Runners who wear shoes land on the back of the foot. The back of the foot hits the ground hard. There is no spring. This is hard on the runner's body. Lieberman's studies show that thirty percent of runners get injured every year. He thinks that running without shoes could cause fewer injuries.
Voice 2 Some doctors worry about barefoot running. They worry about stones and glass on the road. They worry that people who usually wear shoes will hurt their feet if they start going barefoot. Ted McDonald agrees. He knows that people should make a slow change. People who have worn shoes their whole lives are not ready to go without. He thinks that people should start simply - by taking off their shoes in their house. They should spend some time letting their feet and legs work in a new way. This will help prevent injury.
Voice 1 Daniel Lieberman also thinks that people should make a slow change. He suggests that people do foot exercises to make the foot stronger. He also suggests that people only run a short distance on a safe surface when they try barefoot running. It takes time to build up thick skin on the bottom of the feet. Thick skin is important when running on a hard surface without shoes. New barefoot runners need shoes when they run on covered roads. And runners should always watch for glass and stones.
Voice 1 Barefoot running is something new for runners to try. It might help some runners who have a lot of injuries. But as many runners agree, running is good exercise, with or without shoes on the feet.
Voice 2 The writer of this program was Kathryn Hoffman. The producer was Joshua Leo. The voices were from the United States. All quotes have been adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. Computer users can hear our programs, read our scripts, and see our word list on our website at http://www.radio.english.net. This program is called 'Running without Shoes'.
