Running is your best medicine, and your feet are your best shoes.

In other words, barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body: Mens sana in corpore sano.

The book: Barefoot Running for Human Survival

Le livre : Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains

Fifteen Marathons + Two Ultramarathons in Five Weeks (May 11-June 14)

Race the Comrades Legends (90 km)

Liberation Ultramarathon # 2
My results: 10:36:09
Spent calories: 6,454
See the official certificate

After the easing of the 8-week lockdown that we had gone through in France because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I ran 15 marathons and one ultramarathon (60 km) in less than five weeks (May 11—June 9, 2020). Then I did the 90 km of the Race the Comrades Legends on June 14 in SQY Recreation Park, France, placing second in my age category, and I ran the next day, June 15, another marathon. All the races are documented by my Garmin GPS watch. The purpose was to show that long-distance running is meant to be a pain, injury and fatigue-free experience. The big challenge for today’s humans is to understand that, and enjoy the privilege of running like our ancestors. As I explain in my book: Running Barefoot for Human Survival, running is your best medicine, and your feet are your best shoes. The icing on the cake: barefoot running is free and incredibly pleasant.

The legendary Comrades Marathon, in South Africa, is the oldest and largest ultramarathon in the world, and by far the most rewarding long-distance race. Sadly, the race was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first time since 1921, and replaced by the virtual Race the Comrades Legends which was run around the world on June 14. Over 43,000 runners registered for the following distances: 5 km, 10 km, 21.1 km, 45 km or the distance of the official race (90 km). I was one of the 865 who did the 90 km. I ran in the SQY Recreation Park, France.

I have done the Comrades Marathon three times: in minimalist shoes in 2016, partially barefoot in 2017 and barefoot on the 90 km of the 2018 edition, just seven days after completing a fast barefoot marathon in Germany. The Chapter XXVI (The Great Persistence Hunting in KwaZulu-Natal) of my book Barefoot Running for Human Survival is about this unique race.

Long-distance running is the effective and free way to prevent fatigue, chronic diseases, the loss of physical or cognitive abilities, the vulnerability to viral pandemics and, thus, future lockdowns.

It’s about time for humans to stop believing that they are innocent and defenseless victims of those chronic diseases, while they are indeed seeking them through overconsumption of food, consumption of unhealthy substances (alcohol, nicotine, etc.), and physical activity deficiency. Victimization is always the easy, but wrong and deceptive option, while taking responsibility is the right and effective one.

It’ll be great news for those who have already lost their physical or cognitive autonomy if scientists manage to find effective drugs or vaccines against the COVID-19. But all other people should—for their interests and that of the community—do their work to prevent or at least reduce their vulnerability to pandemics to prevent further lockdowns and the physical, mental, moral and socio-economic tragedies and suffering they cause. It’s also the best way to nurture and improve our physical and cognitive abilities, and therefore to avoid ending our lives in a nursing home.

The real challenge is therefore not to save thousands, but millions of human lives through the most effective prevention against chronic diseases (depression, insomnia, stress, overweight, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, cancers, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.) that kill 41 million people yearly, or more than 112,000 per day, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and are by the way responsible for the severe forms of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing deaths, and for the lockdown of over four billion citizens and immeasurable collateral damage.