Now, hold on just a minute!

It's far from proven to everyone's satisfaction that barefoot running is superior to shod running. Here's a podiatrist that seems willing to consider it, but also expresses healthy skepticism. 200,000 years of anatomically modern human behavior is not necessarily prescriptive.

[W]e must be careful assuming biological history trumps all. After all, This is the way we’ve always done it, and so we should is as weak an argument as This is the way we are currently doing it, and so we should continue.