I believe it all started when runners decided to take off their shoes and strut their bare feet around town starting the barefoot running revolution that is sweeping across the nation, provoking imaginative products, and if you’re part of the club, you can sport a barefoot runner’s t-shirt!



One runner in North Carolina decided to take the barefoot trend one step further by stripping down and getting back to basics in the nude. Just as our ancestors did, this brave runner is baring all while zipping through the streets of Waxhaw, North Carolina. The runner hasn’t been identified, and is a bit of a mystery to the locals. No one can say whether he’s a she, and she’s a he, she’s wearing beads, he’s wearing a coat, she’s wearing running shoes… apparently the naked runner is so fast no one can get a good look at who the nudist really is. I’m willing to be that the naked runner’s speed isn’t an accident, if I were running in my birthday suit, I wouldn’t be jogging!

Why run naked? “Shop owner Kathy Matthews has been trying to get inside the naked runners mind, saying ‘It’s humid so maybe she’s hot?’ She even wonders if the naked runner is starting a trend, saying ‘Hair from the 70′s is coming back, maybe the streaking [too]?’” (From Fox News in Charlotte, NC)

Living in San Francisco, I’m surprised I haven’t seen more nudists running Embarcadero, Golden Gate Park, Twin Peaks, Ocean Beach, or many of the other popular running destinations around town. I have a hard time believing there’s a trend brewing, but I will definitely keep an eye out for the less dressed runners!

---

Update: Perhaps the mystery runner is a graduate of the Nike Bear Butte Training camp?