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Charlie Robbins, barefoot runner
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It was the great barefoot runner Charlie ("Doc") Robbins who got me started running barefoot. He used to run with the college students at Wesleyan, although he was already in his 50's when I first met him. At Wesleyan he found olympic-class runners such as Jeff Galloway, Amby Burfoot and Bill Rodgers. And he liked to run with the pretty girls as well! I was running well in my late 30's, but was starting to get cramps in my knees after 5 or 10 miles. Charlie explained that it was because my foot-plant was not stable and the knees had to compensate for the instability, and so eventually they cramped. "Run barefoot like me," he said, "and your foot-plant will be much more stable."
And sure enough, he was right. Once I got used to running barefoot I never again suffered from cramping at the level of the knees. Like other runners, I could develop achilles tendonitis, plantar fascitis or shin splints, and even a strain of the groin muscles, but not knee cramps.
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In his prime during the late 40's and early 50's, Charlie won eleven national running championships, including: five 20 kilometer titles, plus,two 25 kilometers, two 30 kilometers and two marathon championships. He was known as the "running doctor" since he had obtained his M.D. and was working as a psychiatrist on the wards of the Connecticut Valley Hospital. I suppose he showed up for work barefoot with his baggy shorts that he wore everywhere, and was probably indistinguishable from the mental patients he treated. In fact that was like him - a very nice and modest man!
When I got to know him, his big race of the year was the Manchester Thanksgiving Day race, where thousands of runners were cheered by thousands of spectators lining the streets of the city. In 1973, Charlie won the masters division as usual in a time only 30 some seconds slower than his overall winning time for the race in 1945! |
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I have a rare book that I treasure, "Charlie Robbins' Scrapbooks" in which he provides a detailed history of his running career (although almost nothing about his barefoot running which he apparently took up in the 70's). The photo of him and his feet above is on the back of the book.
And in the book, I especially treasure the following quotation:
An interesting race in 1979 was the Vito Bonaiuto five miler in June where the winners of the over 40 men and women and the over 50 classes all ran barefoot. This was me, Carol McCall my reluctant protege runner, and Dave Adams a Wesleyan psychology prof who had been barefoot running only two years. I still don't see why more people don't try it - at least in training. It's really fun and something different.
Charlie passed away at age 85 in 2006, having run well up until a few years of his death. But he lives on vividly in the memories of runners of my generation, and when we get together before and after the races, we often trade stories about him.
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1986-1992
Fall of Soviet Empire
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UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme