New Trend: Barefoot Running In The Snow?

A group of Canadian diehards are making the case for it.

Barefoot running has been a popular running trend the past few years, but what about doing it in the snow?

That’s just what Toronto resident Grant Curle does.

When the white flakes fall, the 37-year-old sheds his shoes. “The snow under your feet feels fantastic,” he told The Star this month. “It’s like constantly stepping onto a surface that perfectly forms to your foot. It’s perfect. You get some bragging rights. It’s an interesting experiment to see how far you can push yourself.”

Curle isn’t just some lone person experimenting with frostbite. Apparently, there is a faction of Canadian barefoot snow runners out there.

Ottawa resident Rod Begg is another snow runner.

“You could say we’re a fringe of a fringe,” he admits. “Some use the word ‘crazy.’ The best part of barefoot running in the winter is the surge in metabolism. There’s a definite metabolic reaction and it actually warms the feet. The colder it is, the more the blood flows.”

Begg founded the Winter Challenge, a competition that pits runners from other countries against each other in a sub-zero marathon.

For More: The Star