Humans must run or die prematurely - Running barefoot for human survival - Running is your best medicine, and your feet are your best shoes. Barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body. - Running Human - Humans must run or die prematurely - Running barefoot for human survival - Running is our best medicine, and our feet are our best shoes. Barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body.

Like persistence hunting, the marathon is primarily an innate physical activity of hunter-gatherers; therefore every human can and should do it. Running is our best medicine, and our feet are our 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. This means, rationally speaking, that running marathons to keep one’s body mass index (BMI) on the lower side of the recommended range (18.5 kg/m2 to 24.9 kg/m2) is much more relevant than any race medal, record or ranking.

The book: Running Barefoot for Human Survival

Le livre : Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains

279 Marathons and Ultramarathons Since October 10, 2010, including 87 barefoot marathons and one 90 km barefoot ultramarathon since october 11, 2015

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One of the crucial lessons that we should learn from the COVID-19 pandemic is the urgent need to prevent or confront actively and efficiently the chronic diseases (obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, etc.) through intense physical activity, preferably barefoot long-distance running, as I explain in the book, “Running Barefoot for Human Survival.” These chronic diseases are not only the aggravating comorbidities of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are also impacting or crippling the lives of billions of humans worldwide, and killing yearly over 40 million, because people are relying on desperate treatments of the symptoms, instead of addressing responsibly the causes, which are unhealthy lifestyle, consumption of unhealthy or addictive substances, overconsumption of food, etc.

In that respect, according to a UK Government policy paper published in July 2020, “Living with obesity reduces life expectancy and increases the chance of serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes,” and “being overweight or living with obesity puts you at risk of dying from COVID-19.” Therefore, “Tackling obesity is one of the greatest long-term health challenges this country faces. COVID-19 has given us a wake-up call. We need to use this moment to kick start our health, get active and eat better.”

Another fundamental lesson is that race cancellations can’t prevent a runner, whose purpose is to stay or become fit, happy and healthy, from running even more marathons or ultramarathons, moreover, for free, at home, at the holiday destination, etc., since at the end of the day all marathons are equal, because the distance is always and everywhere the same (42.2 km or 26.2 miles). The only difference is that it’s undeniably more challenging and more natural, but above all more eco-friendly and rewarding, to run a marathon or a 90 km (56 miles) ultramarathon without any assistance and without a crowd of supporters. Furthermore, that enjoyably brings us closer to our roots as hunter-gatherers.

Ultimately, the unprecedented race cancellations in 2020 are a welcome reminder that it’s about time to take back the control of our ancestral vital activity and our body mass index, become our race directors, and keep running as free and more rational humans, with the assistance of modern technology, such as a GPS device or app.

I call Liberation Marathons (LM) or Liberation Ultramarathons (LUM) the Garmin documented non-official races I’ve run after the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown in France on May 11, 2020.