Summary: What do you do when you experience significant injury after injury, so much so that surgery no longer helps and most doctors tell you it’s time to hang up the running shoes? You hang up your shoes and try natural running, of course. In 2000, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella did just that. After suffering for years from arthritis in his toes, Mark was told by his doctors to stop his running. However, Mark couldn’t give up on his passion, so he began to research and scientifically explore how natural running shoes could help save his career. What Dr. Mark found was nothing short of remarkable. By running barefoot and in natural running shoes he was able to run pain-free and injury-free for the first time in years. In this podcast, we interview Dr. Mark Cucuzzella and find out exactly what he did, why it worked, and how you can do the same. Dr. Cucuzzella is widely considered to be one of the leading experts on how and why to incorporate and transition to minimalist running. Mark is a Professor of Family Medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine. His marathon best is 2:24 and has run under 2:40 for a marathon 24 of the last 25 years, with 22 of these years being run under 2:35. He won the 2011 Air Force Marathon in 2:38, a week shy of his 45th birthday. He attributes much of this longevity to good running form and minimalist principles. And that’s what he’s here to teach you today. If you’ve been thinking about how, or if you should, transition to natural running shoes, you’ve got to listen to this interview.
