Posted: Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:25 pm
Dave Dinnell wrote:...
Another thought to the "but our ancestors didn't wear shoes..." is that our ancestors also supposedly experienced much shorter life spans. I was fine running both shod and unshod until I hit my mid 40's. Then PF set in. I can imagine escaping a predator thousand's of years ago might be a bit more difficult with chronic foot injuries.
People die because of poor life-style, accident, or illness.
In the bad old days before germs, any serious damage to your skin or bone could soon result in infection, and that would kill you. Germs are so effective that most folks were killed by something before middle-age.
Today, people survive because of antibiotics and medical care.
Everybody I know has suffered a broken bone, and stitches, but all have escaped smallpox, typhus, or TB. My flu shots and tetanus shots are up-to-date.
As for running until you hit your 40's, that seems pretty common. A lot of friends have told me that the stopped running because of (... insert reason here...). On the other hand, an active life-style will keep you hiking forever, and the occasional run never hurt anybody.
Escaping predators is kinda tricky, but I think that experience and knowledge will help you survive from bears and cougars -- use your brain, not your feet.
But I'll add one scenario that keeps my boots on: hiking in the mountains. There I find the terrain is too rough for comfort, especially above tree-line where the scree is absolutely painful. So I don't mind telling you that I love my boots and gaiters, almost as much as l love walking barefoot.