I run marathons. I’m therefore healthy, fit and stronger than the COVID-19 and future pandemics, even after 65, because running is our best medicine, and our feet are our best shoes!

Humans are excellent long-distance runners thanks to our hunter-gatherer heritage. The COVID-19 comorbidities, i.e. the chronic diseases, including obesity, are sadly the result of the incompatibility between this heritage and our current way of life.

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

Barefoot Means Barefoot

That’s the title of chapter XXIX of the book, Running Barefoot for Human Survival.

Extracts: “In the tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, The Emperor’s New Clothes (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder), published in 1837, all the adults were praising the majestic clothes of His Highness until a child finally exclaimed: ‘But he isn’t wearing anything at all!’ Two crooks had convinced the emperor to parade wearing the ‘new clothes’ they had made for him. The clothes were allegedly invisible to his incompetent or stupid subjects. But the emperor was in reality naked. Hans Christian Andersen was a great visionary author, because now we have the opposite cheating we can call: The Runner’s Barefoot Shoes. Sadly, this time it’s not a tale, because many people are incredibly convinced, like the emperor parading with his invisible clothes, that they are running with barefoot shoes.”  

There are no such things as barefoot shoes. Any shoes are shoes, and barefoot means barefoot, i.e. naked feet. And just for the record, here’s the definition of the adjective and adverb “barefoot” by, for instance, the Cambridge Dictionary: “Not wearing any shoes or socks.” I did the complete distance of each of the following races “not wearing any shoes or socks”: 88 marathons, including 15 marathons around the world in 14 weeks in 2018, and the 90.2 km of the 2018 Comrades Marathon.

1. 2015-10-11 Zagreb Marathon: 3:57:13
2. 2015-10-26 Dublin Marathon: 4:59:12
3. 2015-11-08 French Riviera Marathon: 4:44:58
4. 2016-02-28  Malta Marathon: 4:27:16
5. 2016-04-03 Marathon de Paris: 4:27:49
6. 2016-04-17 Marathon de Nantes: 4:30:44
7. 2016-05-08 Geneva Marathon: 5:06:05
8. 2016-11-19 Suriname Marathon: 3:52:39
9. 2016-11-27 Curaçao Marathon: 4:15:24
10. 2017-03-19 Marathon de l'espace, French Guiana: 5:58:03

11. 2017-04-09 Rotterdam Marathon : 4:07:22
12. 2017-08-02 Hwange Marathon, Zimbawe: 5:45:20
13. 2017-08-03 Chobe Marathon, Botswana: 6:42:59
14. 2017-08-04 Impalila Island Marathon, Namibia: 6:48:08
15. 2017-08-05 Zambezi Waterfront Marathon, Zambia: 7:44:05 
16. 2017-10-01 Marathon de Lyon: 4:17:14
17. 2017-10-08 Marathon de Metz: 4:40:44
18. 2017-10-15 Amsterdam Marathon: 5:02:59
19. 2017-11-18 Suriname Marathon: 4:17:10
20. 2018-01-21 Trinidad & Tobago Marathon: 4:15:42

21. 2018-04-08 Paris Marathon: 3:54:17
22. 2018-04-15 Bonn Marathon: 3:47:30
23. 2018-04-22 Antwerp Marathon: 3:54:45
24. 2018-06-03 Rhein-Ruhr Marathon: 3:37:31 (my barefoot PR)
25. 2018-06-10 Comrades Marathon (That's a 90 km ultramarathon in South Africa): 11:13:04
26. 2018-08-11 10th Gay Games Marathon: 5:07:40
27. 2018-08-18 Azeri Marathon: 3:56:10
28. 2018-08-20 Capital City Marathon: 4:10:28
29. 2018-09-09 Vilnius Marathon: 3:54:42
30. 2018-09-16 Seine-Marathon 76: 3:54:42

31. 2018-09-23 Marathon de Montréal: 3:37:42
32. 2018-09-30 Chisinau Marathon: 3:40:15
33. 2018-10-07 Lyon Marathon: 4:39:49
34. 2018-10-14 Metz Marathon: 4:37:27
35. 2018-10-21 Toulouse Marathon: 4:22:30
36. 2018-10-28 Rennes Marathon: 3:56:31
37. 2018-11-04 Nice-Cannes Marathon: 4:18:55
38. 2018-11-11 Istanbul Marathon: 3:57:36
39. 2018-11-18 Bangkok Marathon: 4:23:49
40. 2018-11-25 Panama Marathon: 4:28:18

41. 2018-12-02 Costa Rica Marathon: 4:11:52
42. 2018-12-09 Malaga Marathon: 3:57:48
43. 2018-12-16 Pisa Marathon: 3:44:02
44. 2019-01-11: Doha Marathon: 3:52:02
45. 2019-01-25: Dubai Marathon, UAE: 3:58:48
46. 2019-02-17: Seville Marathon, Spain: 4:10:21
47. 2019-02-24: Seychelles Marathon: 5:18:28
48. 2019-03-09: Costa Magica Marathon, Caribbean Sea: 5:13:45
49. 2019-03-24: Marseille Marathon, France: 4:31:57
50. 2019-04-07: Bratislava Marathon, Slovakia: 3:55:19

51. 2019-04-14: Paris Marathon, France: 4:07:03
52. 2019-04-28: Nantes Marathon, France: 4:31:50
53. 2019-05-05: Prague Marathon, Czechia: 4:23:06
54. 2019-05-12: Loire Marathon, France: 5:03:54
55. 2019-05-19: Lima Marathon, Peru: 4:37:36
56. 2019-06-16: Liberty Marathon, France: 4:49:27
57. 2019-08-25: Asuncion Marathon, Paraguay: 3:53:05
58. 2019-09-08: Kobklenz Marathon, Germany: 4:32:12
59. 2019-09-22: Buenos Aires Marathon, Argentina: 4:30:46
60. 2019-09-29: Budapest Marathon, Hungary: 4:15:33

61. 2019-10-06: Brussels Marathon, Belgium: 4:46:29
62. 2019-10-13: Chicago Marathon, USA: 3:57:23
63. 2019-10-20: Auckland Marathon, New Zealand: 4:28:52
64. 2019-10-27: Lausanne Marathon, Switzerland: 4:22:26
65. 2019-11-03: New York Marathon, USA: 4:40:13
66. 2019-12-01: Valencia Marathon, Spain: 4:32:58
67. 2019-12-08: Reggae Marathon, Jamaica: 4:54:52
68. 2019-12-15: Malaga Marathon, Spain: 4:16:53
69. 2020.01.21 Muscat Lonely Marathon, Oman: 5:19:28
70. 2020.02.09 Miami Marathon, USA: 4:24:10

71. 2020.03.01 Malta Marathon, Malta:3:58:10
72. 2020.03.08 Los Angeles Marathon, USA: 4:25:46
73. 2020.03.15 Little Barcelona Marathon, France: 5:02:08
74.2020.04.20 Freedom Boston Marathon, France: 14:53:00
75. 2020.06.18 Liberation Marathon # 17, France: 4:45:06
76. 2020.06.26 Liberation Marathon # 20, France: 4:39:37
77. 2020.07.04 Liberation Marathon # 24, France: 5:25:44
78. 2020.07.16 Liberation Marathon # 28, France: 4:38:54
79. 2020.07.19 Liberation Marathon # 29, France: 4:27:30
80. 2020.07.22 Liberation Marathon # 30, France: 4:24:46

81. 2020.07.26 Liberation Marathon # 31, France: 4:44:01
82. 2020.08.02 Liberation Marathon # 33, France: 4:22:53
83. 2020.08.17 Liberation Marathon # 37, France: 4:40:33
84. 2020.08.20 Liberation Marathon # 38, France: 4:54:02
85. 2020.08.23 Liberation Marathon # 39, France: 4:52:42
86. 2020.09.02 Liberation Marathon # 42, France: 5:11:56
87. 2020.09:05 Liberation Marathon # 43, France: 4:55:13
88. 2020.09.22 Liberation Marathon # 49, France: 4:49:29
89. 2020.10.23 Liberation Marathon # 57, France: 4:40:33