Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Minimalist Footprints...



This photo intrigues me. The print in the lower left is made by a guy I saw on the trail, who appears to weigh less, be smaller than me, and made the print about the same time I did. He was walking, I was running. I mention that to make clear the prints were made onto ground of equal softness and the deeper print was made by someone lighter and walking compared with my 190 lbs running. My print is in the upper right. I was wearing my primal moccasins.

My print isn't quite "the best runners leave no print" ideal, but it is interesting to see the difference between primal running and shod walking in what appears to be a Converse or similar less structured shoe.

Clearly the shod print is a heal strike (see the deep heel imprint.) It creates an artificially flat surface. My primal print is soft around the edges and is clearly a gentle forefoot strike. My foot molds the ground slightly, but also molds to the ground. There is clear toe articulation.

Thoughts? Riff away in the comments section...

3 comments:

  1. Interesting photo as you say it clearly shows the difference in impact force of a shod heelstrike walker to a minimalist shod runner. Would be interesting to have had a 'barefoot' print to compare to the other two.

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  2. How big was the cat?

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  3. I presume that's a small dog print. Haven't ever seen anyone walk their cat there. Grin.

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