From couch to ultra marathon: Bill Hoffman at TEDxAlbany 2013

Bill Hoffman is the founder of Kitware and currently serves as the company's Vice President and Chief Technical Officer. He spoke at TEDx Albany 2013 about his journey "From Couch to Ultra Marathon in 2.5 years."
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@njaneardude]

I went from couch to ultra in six months. Just finished back to back 70km and 50 miler (one week apart) two years later. You can do it.

[@johndavis2284]

+njaneardude What length was your first Ultra, if you don't mind me asking?

[@njaneardude]

+John Davis - 50km. Just squeeked in the ultra category :-) Also my first trail run. North Face Endurance Challenge Series, check it out.

[@johndavis2284]

+njaneardude Still a great accomplishment, congratulations! I really like trail running but haven't ran many races.

[@Chris-kr7gg]

Have you always been fit before your marothan.

[@lupolee]

Great story, I have read the same book "born to run" and was inspired to start my own journey, I actually ran my first ultra 51k by accident after just 4 months. I was enjoying myself so much running down a river, wondering what was around the next bend, I didn't stop until my knees got tired and realized, I have covered just over 15 miles and I had to turn around and head home. lol

[@leonda4817]

nice! you got sore afterwards?

[@hry99]

Life is better when you #RUN

[@bobv8219]

nice Bill, I'm a walker and I too have the book (born to run ) I found it at a thrift store for .25 great book. our stories sound alike, starting at 195 lbs. now 162 been walking long distance for 2 1/2 years with my fitbit have logged 12,400.000 steps and covered 5,850 miles oh and I too changed my eating habits now all organic I'll have to agree with you that I have never feel better in my whole life I'll be 53 in one month. thanks for sharing Bill

[@billhoffman204]

+Leonard Williams, nice it is great to feel good. I love being able to go for miles in the forest and mountains, it is an amazing feeling.

[@Andrew-mo6iz]

You should look into thru hiking if you walk that much.

[@alexa.9446]

Very well done. A lot of us have tracked this story after reading Born to Run. Your explanations here are clear and succinct, with nice personal anecdotes.

[@MalCox56]

A world class Olympic runner ran barefoot in 1960. Abebe Bikila was his name. He won the Olympic Marathon in Rome.

[@Eyeboltmedia]

I love the talk. I just learned about barefoot running after a back injury in 2012 and am a strong believer. now I can't wear any shoes with the heel wedges :)

[@debrachase3131]

The Tracker, Tom Brown Jr. was teaching this method of natural movement, as early as 1983 & probably earlier. That's just when I met him. My siblings and I grew up running barefoot in the fields and woods (much to my grandmother's dismay), so it came naturally. When you've got pine cones and acorns, your feet learn how to land. People who equated running as heel striking and excessive arm swinging, used to make fun of me. "I saw you "prancing" down the road, yesterday." (outer forefoot, roll across & down) like Countryman, in the running scene, in that old movie. I get no where near the air he was getting in that sequence. I remember running like that, as a kid, though. For all the running scenes in film, that is the most gorgeous and inspiring, to me. I think that shot of him coming down through the brush was a single, uncut shot. I froze the video and screenshot it, so I could check his foot strike. There it was. Perfect and untrained except by nature, itself. Natural running is beautiful.

[@austinado16]

My teen daughter and I have been running/training in the FiveFingers almost exclusively since 2012. We wince when we see people pounding along in their "real" running shoes, landing on their heels, with all manner of bizarre additional body movements (weird arm swings, weird torso and shoulder rotations, body leaned back, back arches, feet rotated outward on landing and inward when behind the body)......just unbelievable. And the Hoka wearers are just comical, and so painful to watch. And yet these people will stand around (or come here on their keyboard) and profess their running style and shoe selection, as if it's their religion. If you asked for a show of hands, probably 99% of people wearing "real" running shoes have been, or currently are, injured, and of those, 100% have been running their entire running "career" in expense, fully engineered, computer designed, extremely supportive and protective, running shoes. Yet instead of doing the very simple math, there they are, still buying the marketing hype, still injured, many in orthodyx (I can't even imagine that), and looking at those of us running injury free in the barefoot style, as a bunch of freaks.

[@offsboy]

That is exactly the story what I see will be telling in a year. :) Just started from the couch (IT manager as well.. ironic 😀 ) Completely barefoot so far, one month behind me, already run the longest in my life, 5 miles, half concrete, half trails. There is something in barefoot running that prevents you to overdo yourself and something that forces you to have fun with much less tiredness than in shoes. I'm so looking forward ti the next months to see what will happen. Thanks for sharing your story!

[@kipsdaddy]

Awesome story Bill, I'm a new barefoot runner. Great to see it is a reality.

[@goo5976]

couch to half marathon instantly, ultra in one year

[@michaeltimothy456]

Well told story, and very inspiring to me. Thanks for sharing this.

[@melkior33]

Hittin the trail right now!

[@andreastraining4513]

Interesting to listen to your story, impressed by your journey. Thanks for sharing.

[@rohitkohok6631]

HATS OFF TO YOU SIR, AND THANKS, A LOT FOR SHARING YOUR STORY WITH US.............................

[@8JELLYBABIES]

Thank you for sharing that, I'm hoping to do my first ultra this year, I found that just what I needed to hear

[@forloveofthegain]

Amazing story Bill! Just the motivation I needed this morning to hit the trail!

[@PeepalBaba-Givemetrees]

too good ☘️☘️

[@java6727]

Don't talk, Run!

[@paulself5688]

Great talk :-)

[@abishekravichandran2473]

wow thanks

[@shahruledree]

Great talk, im switching to minimalize shoes right now, it solve my problem which are my knee and ankle hurt so much, maybe barefoot one day :)

[@mikey280380]

Lovely talk

[@johan131]

Just great!

[@HushemFlupskluk]

I don't know about running barefoot long distances on the road. I just do not want to run a long time then have blood on the bottom of my balls of feet because the skin has slowly been scraped off by the concrete. This would cause pain and would make me have to recover for a week or more. Pilling up tiles all day bare handed is like that a bad idea. The tips of your fingers will scrape off, bleed and will cause pain a week or more. Running bare foot on wet concrete road sounds like an even worse idea because the skin will come of even more easy. Ill have sandals!

[@billhoffman204]

The feet adapt. I have run 4 barefoot marathons so far and recovery time is pretty quick.

[@Chris-kr7gg]

@@billhoffman204 on concrete roads and what about all the filth like excrements urine etc

[@boomshankaman]

As a minimalist runner I agree with most of what he says, but I hate the book Born to Run. It is pure hyperbole. Also, strange how he blames his knee injury on Vibram Five Fingers, causing him to heel strike, but not the sandals. In the very next frame he is heel striking in the sandals. I started minimalist running in Five fingers and they were great, subsequently used Merrell trail gloves and New Balance Minimus. What’s causing you to heel strike is lazy form, or tiredness from pushing too hard. I’ve seen runners’ form drop on long races.

[@billhoffman204]

I did not blame VFF on my knee injury, I blamed regular shoes for that. A still picture is also misleading. I recently had someone take slow motion video of me running in sandals and although it looks like it heel strike from some frames, it is actually a perfect midfoot landing.

[@austinado16]

@@billhoffman204 Bill, thanks for putting together such a good talk, and taking the time to share it with others, as well as post it here (and risk all the slagging from keyboard jockeys). Same experience as you, regarding the FF's and running form, and have been enjoying them since 2012. Haven't tried actual barefoot, but have been interested in the sandals. Are yours the Lunas? Any issues with the straps rubbing between your toes, or sides of feet, or achilies area? Do they get a little sketchy as far as traction goes, when on surfaces that have small granules of rocks? Or when wet or over wet surfaces? I still do about 90% of my running in the FF "Spyridon" models, which are their trail shoe from a few years ago. I think they have an updated version now, but I can still find the Spyridon's on ebay, so I keep buying them. No nice "forest" trails here in SoCal, so my "mountain" trail runs are more like a rocky river bottom. Ultimately, I switch to New Balance Minimus or New Balance MT101's because the little rocks get so bad that I wind up getting pretty badly bruised running in the FF's. But still love the FF's and they are always my first choice, no matter what the terrain.

[@billhoffman204]

@@austinado16 Yes, I run almost exclusively in Lunas now. I have run with them on pretty much any terrain including snow and ice. I even ran the LT100 last year in Luna Mono 2.0 sandals.

[@6374me]

christopher mcdougall, author of Born to Run, died of a heart attack on the trail where he lived with the Indians. On another TED video, you can listen to a cardiologist who studies marathon and ultra runners and found that they damage their heart muscle from too much running. Limited running, no more than 15-20 miles a week, is much healthier way of living.

[@mentalistsa]

+6374me I have also researched this. Seems a lot more research is needed on this subject to reach a definite conclusion I for one had a stress test, MRI and CT scan done because of all this research. What affects me is genes and I sit right in the middle amongst my age group. Hopefully the Lord will let me die with my Hokas on lol....

[@davecockman5339]

+6374me You are wrong Christpher McDougal DID NOT die ... he is still alive and well. Micah True, who was the subject of the book, died on the trail run.

[@jackarf1]

+6374me Wait, you know someone who runs 35-40 miles per week and does it to be healthy??

[@karolinakaminska9942]

do you have a ink to the cardiologists talk?

[@prasadkadwaikar331]

Please tell us more about running Barefoot in winter

[@rajeshkumararunachalam4635]

Patience skip the KZbin survey

[@pursueyourdreams3694]

jurassic park programmer, yep, he didnt run fast enough from them dinosaur

[@herbertagard7435]

Running5mmiles every other day is excellent for good health.

[@anshahouse]

Used a bit too much from Born To Run, but otherwise a good presentation.

[@themilitantvegan2515]

If heal strike is bad then why does Med run heal strike? The guy who won Boston 2014 runs heal strike.

[@billhoffman204]

Meb actually switched to a forefoot strike for Boston 2014. They say that is why he might have won this year.

[@themilitantvegan2515]

Videos on you tube tell a different story, I will look it up. This is one of those if not broken why fix it kinda situations.

[@billhoffman204]

Just going by some articles I read. Google this: "Meb Keflezighi Wins Boston Marathon and Ditching the Heel Strike May Have Helped Him Do It" I would put a link but youtube does not like links in comments. But sure, it can certainly work for some folks. For me the barefoot minimalist style has been great. I have not had an injury yet and have done 8 marathons and 2 ultras so far. I realize there are folks that have heel striked and run farther and longer than I have. But, I went from not being able to run at all to what I am doing now, and I would credit barefoot running with 90% of my success.

[@themilitantvegan2515]

Cool I will look it up

[@denimbluez]

Professional runners can run heal toe perfectly because they have trained and worked on the perfect strike and form for years. Their body and muscles are fine tuned to run like that. However, modern trainers have only been in existence for a little over 60 years, before that we used flat strips of leather just for protection. Just like sandals etc Not everyone has a professional coach to teach them the correct heal toe strike, and as its not a natural running technique. Trainers are man made and you do need to choose the correct shoes for your feet which is hard and if you get it wrong you can get injured. (now that's got to be wrong) However...... everyone can run barefoot as 40,000 years of evolution has developed naturally. eg Have you ever run bare foot on the beach - or have you ever seen anyone running barefoot on the beach not knowing how to run barefoot and needing to ask you how to run?????

[@ubu6949]

Any relation to Donald Hoffman?

[@marthaceciliahaque-garnica3864]

I’m reading a great book Creation By God or evolution, by nothing? By Nicolene Filmalter ..this book is an eye opener for so many.

[@charlieraven6342]

tbh the barefoot ppl freak me out, were do they live? there is glass everywhere near me (can't even leave my apt without shoes), bristles, animals, and parasites (you want ringworm? thats how you get ringworm). idk i think thats a weird thing thats a little unnecessary

[@3vimages471]

435 miles in 48 hours ….by a human running ..... totally impossible. Absolutely impossible ….. the World Record for the 26 mile marathon is just over 2 hours ..... so average circa 13 miles an hour. This record is considered exceptional. 435 miles in 48 hours means running almost 10 miles an hour (9.06) continuously for 2 days without a break .... forget it. That cannot be done.

[@3vimages471]

And why aren't the Tamahumara winning every Olympic distance race like East Africans do all the time. These runners earn millions ….. where are the Tama challenging them?

[@filoIII]

As soon as world class olympic runners start running barefoot in their races, I'll consider it. Until then, the minimalist movement is DOA.

[@denimbluez]

So what your saying if someone won; lets say the 5000 meters Olympic race and held the world record and ran bare foot then and only then you'd consider this? well take a look at the south african chick who ran for Great Britain in the 1984 Olympics - Zola Budd....... Even in South Africa the kids play rugby and do all running bare foot. Many don't wear trainers shoes until teens.

[@filoIII]

Simon Hugh Thomas In S. Africa, they play on grass, & not in a concrete jungle

[@filoIII]

Aaron Buttitchy The human body is born to run barefoot on GRASS, perhaps??????? I have joggled 2 half marathons, so you make the call.

[@mattarce]

1960 Olympic running marathon a barefoot runner won the gold. On concrete.

[@_PRMTHS1129]

James A Abebe Bikila from Ethiopa and was incidently the first African Olympic Champion. That's pretty cool.

[@NatashaMay10]

3 hours, length of an average marathon. lol!

[@kr5746]

this video was really disappointing. I was hoping for some discussion that was more focused on his "internal" journey rather than his external one. Sure the slides were great, but he just showed us what races he did, and he didn't mention anything about why or talk about any emotional barriers, breakthroughs, let alone how he was able to accomplish all of this. very disappointed- worst TEDtak ever.

[@roycegracie11]

You're a joke

[@leomoe433]

Start running man. Rule1: It has to be fun There you go, you’re run an ultra

[@ubu6949]

Fun is best. Stress will kill you. : -)

[@ReisNJake]

This crowd sucked.

[@richardpetitclerc9793]

1:09 : come on budy im here for the Marathon , not your religion

[@PaDutchRunner]

God has the manual, not evolutionary biology ;)

[@roksraka9241]

+Stephen Otto religion has nothing to do with running technique

[@PaDutchRunner]

Rok Sraka Then neither should evolution.

[@roksraka9241]

+Stephen Otto Out of all the possible cases for the religion vs. evolution debate, you chose the one where it is the easiest to prove you wrong. Our legs and feet have evolved to allow us to run for hours and hours, and allowed our species to survive and thrive. Millions of years went into the making of our feet, so we shouldn't try to reverse the process in a matter of decades using padded running shoes.

[@PaDutchRunner]

Rok Sraka Where is your evidence for that statement?

[@roksraka9241]

+Stephen Otto Evolutionary science perfectly explains how our bodies and our running technique are adapted for each other. It clearly shows the gradual transformation from four-legged to upright walking, using fossils as proof. Or do you think that god placed the fossils there so we would have something to dig up if we got bored?

[@cpy]

Oh, this is some sort of barefoot running talk…sigh