{"id":57648,"date":"2026-06-03T11:27:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=57648"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:27:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:27:44","slug":"the-benefits-of-running-barefoot-and-the-hongkongers-making-shoeless-strides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=57648","title":{"rendered":"The benefits of running barefoot and the Hongkongers making shoeless strides"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/02\/b900812f-5201-4115-ae44-2cf1b50f5ff8_1e5c9885.jpg?itok=7_7ATUyn&amp;v=1780395837\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">If you are a seasoned marathon runner, you may have experienced that brief, bewildering moment mid-race when you realise the competitor cruising past you is missing seemingly crucial gear: shoes.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">barefoot running<\/span> movement is stepping out of the fringe and onto running courses and hiking trails. In Hong Kong, a small but passionate community is ditching hi-tech running shoes to tackle everything from roads to the unforgiving stairs of the MacLehose Trail completely unshod.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Leo Chan is one of them. The 51-year-old entrepreneur has swum across the English Channel, competed in more than 100 triathlons \u2013 including nine full Ironman competitions \u2013 and finished 30 marathons and three Hyrox races. He founded his own distribution company that often partners with fitness gadget brands.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">His most recent athletic pursuit may be his most striking. It began nearly three years ago in Singapore when he spotted a shoeless competitor in a race.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIt\u2019s actually the most natural way to run,\u201d the man told him.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Chan soon started experimenting himself, running barefoot for 1km (0.6 miles) at first, before building up to longer distances. He finished his first full marathon \u2013 the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon<\/span> \u2013 shoeless in January 2026.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/health-wellness\/article\/3355686\/benefits-running-barefoot-and-hongkongers-making-shoeless-strides?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are a seasoned marathon runner, you may have experienced that brief, bewildering moment mid-race when you realise the competitor cruising past you is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[24049,3009,8985,2245,2214,24050,24051],"class_list":["post-57648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-barefoot","tag-benefits","tag-hongkongers","tag-making","tag-running","tag-shoeless","tag-strides","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}