Barefoot Ted AKA Ted McDonald, is an extreme runner who started a sandal company but often runs barefoot. But this story is not about running, or footwear, or the Rarámuri tribe that still lives mostly in traditional ways in the Copper Canyons of Mexico. This story is about this photograph.
In his travels and quest for footwear that ultimately led Barefoot Ted to create Luna Sandals, Barefoot Ted visited the Rarámuri (also referred to as the Tarahumara) in 2006 to learn more about their minimalist footwear that contributed to their endurance running legend; oh, and also to compete in the Caballo Blanco Ultra Marathon, a 50-mile trail-running race.
Ted returned to the US and took what he’d learned from that first trip, as well as a sandal that Manuel Luna had made for him, and got to work incorporating cutting-edge footwear materials to develop an improved version of the tire-outsole sandals the Mexican Indians were using.
He spec’d a high-tech and super thin Vibram sole that was actually an outer replacement sole for work shoes and boots that needed industry-specific, grippy soles (such as restaurant workers or firefighters). “I got this thin, rubber material that was also very strong, and I thought, ‘These dudes are going to love this material.’ recounted Ted McDonald.
Ted returned to Chihuahua for the race in 2007 and showed some Tarahumara the prototype, and… “They’re practically laughing at me. …because, it turns out, when you’re really doing mountain running in the rugged mountains of the Copper Canyons of Northern Mexico, you don’t need, nor to you want, to feel every nook, cranny, bramble and pebble.”
Luna Sandals was then headed on its course to bringing the minimalist (but not too minimal!) footwear sandal and trend of barefoot-style running to a new generation of America runners.
But a funny thing happened – a friend had taken a photo of Ted’s foot in that laughed-off prototype, and the shot started circulating as a photo of a Tarahumara Indian’s foot in a traditional Tarahumara sandal. “The irony of that story was that that photograph ends up of me… you can see if you look up at the top of the legs that it’s a quote-unquote ‘white man’ or ‘gringo’ for lack of a better term. But if you [only] look down at the feet, well the funny thing is that photograph ends up getting used, even by a Harvard professor, in presentations, as a shot of the Tarahumara and their sandals; which was completely wrong…”
And the photo was even used as a springboard for competitors of Luna, “A bunch of the early copycats of Luna sandals, who [thought], you know, ‘How hard is it to go into the sandal business?’ Right? They would indeed make sandals like this, thinking theirs was the Tarahumara sandal, and there was so much about that that was both ironic and troubling and absurd… But our roots kind of lay in that stupid picture that’s a miscreant; it’s a miscreant sandal and a miscreant foot, that ends up making lots of people think, ‘Here’s the Tarahumara,’ of which they should honor and of which they should be amazed by, but not by my foot and not by that sandal.”
The foot’s skin looks dark from the dirt of a 50 mile trail race, but the dirt doesn’t go up too far, “…it’s pretty clear if you follow the leg up, because I’m white legs, and it’s so funny that people miss that because Tarahumara, their feet look like mine to many degree, that’s not far from the truth, but their legs are dark, strong, sinuous, that’s not what you see there. If you look closely at that photo… …definitely a white guy… And many, many, many other people – dude, all over the place – in other languages, all over, that damn foot and that crappy photo has been a misunderstanding from the get go.”
Its easy to see when you’re looking at it. But show the full photo to a friend, with the story of the Tarahumara tribe and see if their eye spots the now-obvious-to-you inconsistency of that leg.
If you want to learn more about Luna’s sandals, which are made in Seattle, Washington, or about the company’s history, go to lunasandals.com.
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