The 2022 Boston Marathon
Barefoot World Marathon Major # 5
Marathon # 341
Barefoot Marathon # 106
Date: April 18, 2022
My Time: 4:56:17
April 22, 2022
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I ran barefoot the Boston Marathon to remind people that the authentic and safe way to do a marathon is barefoot, like first marathoner Pheidippides, all ancient Greek runners and all humans until not so long ago.
I ran barefoot the 126th Boston Marathon, like first marathoner Pheidippides, all ancient Greek runners and all humans until not so long ago. The 2022 Boston Marathon was my fifth barefoot Marathon Major. The previous ones are the 2019 Chicago Marathon, the 2019 New York Marathon, the 2021 Berlin Marathon and the 2021 London Marathon. I finished the race pain and injury-free.
Watch on the first of the following videos the impressive Wellesley College Girls screaming: “Barefoot runner!” and “Barefoot running!” The second is the official video of my race. I’ve so far completed barefoot a 90 km ultramarathon and 106 marathons.
Marathon # 341
Barefoot Marathon # 106
Date: April 18, 2022
My Time: 4:56:17
April 22, 2022
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
I ran barefoot the Boston Marathon to remind people that the authentic and safe way to do a marathon is barefoot, like first marathoner Pheidippides, all ancient Greek runners and all humans until not so long ago.
I ran barefoot the 126th Boston Marathon, like first marathoner Pheidippides, all ancient Greek runners and all humans until not so long ago. The 2022 Boston Marathon was my fifth barefoot Marathon Major. The previous ones are the 2019 Chicago Marathon, the 2019 New York Marathon, the 2021 Berlin Marathon and the 2021 London Marathon. I finished the race pain and injury-free.
Watch on the first of the following videos the impressive Wellesley College Girls screaming: “Barefoot runner!” and “Barefoot running!” The second is the official video of my race. I’ve so far completed barefoot a 90 km ultramarathon and 106 marathons.
As a neophyte runner, I did my first Boston Marathon ten years ago like most people still think we should, i.e. with sneakers. I was fortunate to realize later that the authentic and safe way to “chase the unicorn” is barefoot, and why the sad scenario for too many shod participants is always the same during any marathon or ultramarathon: everyone feels great and jubilant at the start of race, but sooner or later the sustained impact of running with sneakers spoils the party for thousands of them. The damage (pain, cramps, blisters, knee problems, etc.) usually pops up before the second half of the course, then worsens until the finish line.
Some shod runners will need weeks or even months to recover fully. Others—like Abele Bikila at the 1968 Olympic Marathon in Mexico City—will never be able to run a marathon again, unaware that their serious injuries came from running with sneakers.
That’s the result of the combination of asymmetric information with the incredible propensity of humans to believe everything that money- or power-hungry people tell them, although it’s easy to understand that if our ancestors had practiced persistence hunting with sneakers, they wouldn’t have been able to catch enough animals for food to ensure the survival or human species.
The founders of the new form of persistence hunting, i.e. the marathon, took inspiration from ancient Greece and even nicknamed Boston “The Athens of America.” Nonetheless, barefoot phobia prevented them from running barefoot. The “barbarous” Romans behaved the same way for the same reason when they conquered the cradle of Western civilization. Sadly, barefoot phobia and mercantile brainwashing keep preventing most current runners from understanding or accepting that Homo sapiens is a long-distance barefoot runner.
Human biology triggered barefoot phobia when some individuals left Homo sapiens’ tropical habitat and ventured northward in the quest for food. They soon discovered that naked humans cannot survive in the cold. The luckiest found natural shelters, such as a cave, and had therefore more chance to survive the winter. Some suffered from very painful distal ischemia—the reduction or interruption in the blood supply to the feet, ears, hands, etc.—and hypothermia or even died.
I explain, in the book Running Barefoot for Human Survival, why the marathon is meant to be a blissful and painless experience, and why the human body—including our feet—is anthropologically, biologically and theologically perfect for barefoot running. The cold is indeed the only issue for barefoot running and living. That’s because we’re a tropical species: it’s the biology, stupid!
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
Some shod runners will need weeks or even months to recover fully. Others—like Abele Bikila at the 1968 Olympic Marathon in Mexico City—will never be able to run a marathon again, unaware that their serious injuries came from running with sneakers.
That’s the result of the combination of asymmetric information with the incredible propensity of humans to believe everything that money- or power-hungry people tell them, although it’s easy to understand that if our ancestors had practiced persistence hunting with sneakers, they wouldn’t have been able to catch enough animals for food to ensure the survival or human species.
The founders of the new form of persistence hunting, i.e. the marathon, took inspiration from ancient Greece and even nicknamed Boston “The Athens of America.” Nonetheless, barefoot phobia prevented them from running barefoot. The “barbarous” Romans behaved the same way for the same reason when they conquered the cradle of Western civilization. Sadly, barefoot phobia and mercantile brainwashing keep preventing most current runners from understanding or accepting that Homo sapiens is a long-distance barefoot runner.
Human biology triggered barefoot phobia when some individuals left Homo sapiens’ tropical habitat and ventured northward in the quest for food. They soon discovered that naked humans cannot survive in the cold. The luckiest found natural shelters, such as a cave, and had therefore more chance to survive the winter. Some suffered from very painful distal ischemia—the reduction or interruption in the blood supply to the feet, ears, hands, etc.—and hypothermia or even died.
I explain, in the book Running Barefoot for Human Survival, why the marathon is meant to be a blissful and painless experience, and why the human body—including our feet—is anthropologically, biologically and theologically perfect for barefoot running. The cold is indeed the only issue for barefoot running and living. That’s because we’re a tropical species: it’s the biology, stupid!
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).