I wonder, do they always run on hard surfaces? It seems to me more appropriate to start with soft surfaces, like forest trails, beaches, grass etc, and build up gradually. BTW, take a look: http://runbarefoot.com/
Well, the article also says: "Over the years, a handful of world-class runners have been able to compete barefoot because they had run that way all their lives, hardening their feet naturally from early childhood. Among them: Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, in the 1960s, and South Africa's Zola Budd Pieterse two decades later. But for runners long-accustomed to cushiony footwear, making the switchover often involves bizarre, agonizing feats." I'm not a runner but several Society for Barefoot Living members are and they never report much problems with blisters, if at all... of course they're barefoot all day or at least most of the day when walking too, and likely have tougher feet. I can imagine that if you go for barefoot running but wear shoes normally at work/shopping/hiking/etc, it's different, then you bare your feet only when they're under greater stress and give them less time to built up. I remember a report from a barefoot marathon runner (a barefooter when not running too) from a couple years ago, and he reported that at the finish, lots of shoddies took off their shoes and had bloody toes, bloody blisters, while his feet were fine. Also my mom mentioned after the last Olympics they'd shown some shots of long-distance runners taking off their shoes and showing bloody blisters... So it's sure possible to run barefoot and do without the blisters, and shoes aren't a sure way to do without!
Visit the running barefoot yahoo group and read how many members were misquoated in that article. The media has been known to slant stories in the past and this is just another example. Barefoot running has been sucessful for millions of years. If it wasn't our species would have been killed off. Running barefoot requires you to run differently than we learned to do wearing shoes. Slamming your heels down as you run is only possible while wearing shoes. Barefooters use the whole foot and all it's muscles differently. It's lower impact is better for knees, hips, ankles and everything else. you can find more information if you are interested... but try for yourself and see.
