Should you haven’t heard of Barefoot Bobby, he’s a 58-year-old runner from Bangalore, India, who has taken the world by storm along with his uncommon strategy to operating—barefoot. Final Sunday, on the 2024 Mumbai Marathon, Bobby ran one of many quickest occasions of his profession, ending in 3:11:47 for third within the males’s 55-59 age group.
Barefoot Bobby’s operating journey started in 2009, when he began coaching along with his daughter for a college race. Whereas his daughter finally stopped operating, Bobby, whose actual identify is Thomas Philip, continued to see how far he may go. He wound up at a Nike retailer in his hometown to seize a pair of footwear, however they didn’t final him so long as he would’ve preferred, so he ditched them altogether.
Since 2012, Bobby has been operating barefoot and has tackled each race distance from 5K to 50K. In 2015, he turned the primary runner from India to finish the Boston Marathon barefoot. He continued to make waves by operating a 3:12 marathon on the 2017 NYC Marathon (additionally barefoot).
When requested why he does this, Bobby factors to his minimalist strategy. “I do my quickest runs barefoot, and that’s how I began and I’ve simply saved it up,” he mentioned in a 2023 interview. “The cheer I get from others operating day-after-day; these moments are valuable. Working barefoot has put me outdoors my consolation zone.”
Just lately retired from a profession in telecommunications, Bobby now has the time to completely pursue his ardour. He has an in depth record of races he hopes to knock off within the subsequent two years—all barefoot, in fact.
Given the mileage he’s put in, you may assume Bobby’s ft are made from metal, however he insists that barefoot operating remains to be a problem. He finds it nearly unimaginable to run barefoot within the chilly, as every little thing feels sharper and extra painful. A 5K is the hardest distance for him, as it’s extra bodily demanding on his ft.
Whereas we are able to’t affirm if there’s any blood relation between Barefoot Bobby and the legendary Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, who received the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome barefoot, Bobby’s occasions and dedication to barefoot operating are nonetheless spectacular.