Where are you getting your information?

This seems like a reasonable question.  The advent of the internet has led to wonderful amounts of information sharing.  There is also a lot of really crappy information out there.  As a physical therapist, I often have to battle misinformation to help the patient get to the mental place they need to be.  Just because WebMD says it does not make it true.

With that said, most of my information has come off of the internet.  I use a couple of guidelines when judging the information.

• Is the information consistent across several unrelated sources?  If yes, this gives some credibility.
• What are the credentials/education of the writer?  Is this Joe Shmoe spouting his opinion/experiences or is the writer operating from a positon of knowledge.
• Does the information pass the logic test?  Is the writer making big leaps and assumptions based on limited evidence or experience?
• Is this biologically plausible?  Does the information mesh with basic anatomy/physiology/biology?
• What type of financial interest does the writer have?  Do they own the company selling the new wonder product?  Never believe what a marketing department writes.  Their job is to sell you stuff.  Period.
• How often do they use terms like never and always?  Do they use highly emotional terms?  Is the language meant to "stoke your fire"?  Major decisions need to be made from a calm, informed place not from an emotional and ignorant place.
• Has any research been quoted?  If research is quoted, where is the research from?  Who did the research?  Does the writer keep quoting the same piece of low power research?  If someone is basing their conclusions off a couple of case studies, be very leary.
• Is the author quoting a lot of his own research?  Not to say that the research is bad but we do tend to agree with ourselves.

My biggest rule when evaluating information is, "Never assume the information is 100% right and never assume it is 100% wrong".  Even the most dishonest, manipulated information can have a grain of truth (think about most political ads; there is a little bit of truth present, but not a whole lot).

My journey started when I heard about the book, Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  It has been in the press a lot recently.  I'm not going to go through a whole book review but I will say it is a fun and inspiring read.  It really makes me want to get out and run (obviously).  Throughout the book, the author presents a variety of information about why we were born to run.  This includes anatomy, physiology, evolutionary biology, evolutionary pyschology, and basic sports science.  The information comes from a wide variety of sources both current and historical.

Do I fully buy the author's premise that we humans were, in fact, born to run?  For the most part, yes, I do.  I saw some signs that he was cherry-picking some information and possibly making more of "the facts" than should be made.  Overall, it doesn't seem unreasonable.

On a side note, if you have ever read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, you will be familiar with the last several chapters of the final book, The Last Battle.  In the last chapters, many of the familar characters find themselves in Aslan's Country, which is essentially Heaven.  Besides it being beautiful and peaceful, they find that they can all run faster than an eagle can fly without getting hot, tired or out of breath.  Think about that.  Wouldn't that be fabulous?  Would any rational human turn down the ability to run super-fast without getting hot, tired or out of breath?  Of course not.  It makes me think we are, in fact, born to run.

So, Born to Run got me inspired, but where do you go from there?  The first place I start is my own personal athletic experiences and my physical therapy background.  How have I been injured?  What are some of my "issues"?  How do runners commonly get injured?  What would I reasonably anticipate could be some issues with barefoot running?

Two websites which have been helpful, so far, are http://birthdayshoes.com/ and http://naturalrunningcenter.com/.  Birthdayshoes.com has less technical information about running and more shoe reviews.  Naturalrunningcenter.com has a list of contributors with significantly better credentials and a little more how-to information.  I am still exploring each site and seeing where they lead me.

There is a video on naturalrunningcenter.com that is very helpful in understanding the mechanics of barefoot/natural running.  Referencing my comments above, the concepts seem plausible and make logical sense.  This is a video I will likely watch numerous times to glean further bits of info.

It is impossible to say what I might run into later on.  As I go, I will have to do my best to judge the credibility and validity of advice and information I come across.  Don't we all?