Episode 158 - Barefoot Ted McDonald

Barefoot Ted McDonald is a shaman. In 2009 he became a central character in Christopher McDougall’s best selling book about natural  running and movement, Born To Run. Ted was initially portrayed (perhaps unfairly) as the quintessential ugly American, a brash, larger than life counterpoint to the retiring Tarahumara, the legendary distance runners whom McDougall’s party had ventured to the Copper Canyons of Northern Mexico to engage with. Ted’s arc formed the emotional pivot of the book when McDougall described the bond between Ted and Manuel Luna, a Tarahumara man whose son had been brutally murdered by a drug cartel. Since the book’s publication  Barefoot Ted (as he is now widely known) has become synonymous with barefoot running and an advocate for us investigating our atavistic potential for natural movement. Ted’s call that running should be a state of play; joyful and unhindered. First with Five Fingers and now with his own company Luna Sandals, Ted sells footwear that at periods in our history were ubiquitous, however now are considered iconoclastic or niche. The son of an LAPD detective, who grew up ensconced in the surf and skateboard culture of 1970’s California, Ted’s curiosity for what propels us has changed the course of his life - and arguably many others. Ted beamed in with us from the Republic of California in a sun drenched ray of pure joy. Answering our questions before they were asked, and riffing mighty on the microdosing of movement, how play is vital to life,  and the holism of community. Ted talked about his recent adventures at Leadville, his evolution from pioneer to elder and all points in between. What is so evident is Ted’s love of life, and those strange critters that are human beings. At the end of our conversation, Ted hooted “LIVE JAZZ” and he’s not wrong ... This is the conversational equivalent of Sun Ra’s Space is the Place.  Enjoy.