Former Air Force Marathon champ trains mostly barefoot

Air Force Marathon

Today

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. — Sports and fitness expo at Nutter Center

6:30 p.m. — 5K run, starts at Setzer Pavilion behind Nutter Center

Saturday

7:25 a.m.

— Wheeled marathon

7:30 — Marathon and 10K run

8:30 — Half-marathon

(All races start near Air Force Museum)

Parking: Runners and spectators can enter the base at the Woodman Road and Spinning Road gates and the entrance at I-675, exit 15. After 8:30 a.m., the museum gate on Springfield Street also will be open. Parking and admission are free.

Marathon tidbits: Defending champion Brian Dumm of Colorado Springs and third-place finisher Jason Brosseau of Santa Maria, Calif., are skipping the marathon but will run the half-marathon. ... Dave Johnston of Xenia, the 2009 champ, and Jim Beyer of Dayton, who had the best showing among local runners last year with a fourth-place finish, are both out with injuries. ... Johnston's wife, Christina, will be back to defend her 2010 victory in the women's half-marathon.

Dr. Mark Cucuzzella won the 2006 Air Force Marathon and is expected to finish among the leaders again this year.

The Shepherdstown, W.Va., native, though, may have the most unconventional training method of any of the record 13,000 participants in the field Saturday. He never does speed workouts, believing stamina is better built through an easy, steady pace. And, more shocking still, he almost always runs barefoot.

It’s the new craze in running, along with minimalist shoes, which in their most extreme form resemble gloves for the feet. The school of thought is that a typical running shoe promotes a hard landing on the heel, which can lead to injury over time, while barefoot and minimalist-shoe advocates strike the ground with the mid-part of the foot, distributing the blow throughout the body.

Cucuzzella, chief medical consultant for the Air Force Marathon, will conduct a seminar on the topic at 3 p.m. today at the Nutter Center.

“What I teach is there’s a proper mechanic — not that everyone should run barefoot. But there’s a proper way to run, and that’s not landing hard on your heel and over-striding,” he said. “It’s a more efficient, lighter stride like a Kenyan would run.

“This isn’t opinion. It’s real scientific principles and human experience. People are just figuring it out now. They try it and go, ‘Oh that makes sense. Don’t brace the foot. The foot is pretty important.’ I’m living proof of that. I’m 44. I don’t run hard. I don’t run much. I run barefoot. And if it’s a nice day, I’ll run a 2:40 (marathon).”

Cucuzzella finished fifth in 2:42:02 last year, about 14 minutes off the winning pace. He doesn’t have lofty ambitions.

He has a private medical practice in addition to his Air Force duties. He also owns a running store that sells only minimalist shoes. He’ll wear a very thin version in the race.