Barefoot beginner help

Read up lots on forefoot running to learn proper technique for running in minimalist shoes.  Heel striking is out when you've got no cushioning under your feet.

There are exercises out there online also to help strenghten feet and calves for people new to going barefoot. 

Runnersworld US have a forum section dedicated to barefoot running, might be worth your while to sign up on there to hear from more experianced barefooters.

So here's the thing with barefoot/minimalist running.  Got it that there is a tribe in the remote mountains where everyone runs barefoot and no one gets hurt.  There is a major problem with extrapolating that to the rest of the world.  They are isolated and are therefore genetically biomechanically similar.  It doesn't necessarily follow that barefoot running is best for people of other nationalities around the world who have vastly different biomechanics.

Barefoot running is like any other pair of shoes.  It works exceptionally well for some people and not at all for others.  By all means, please try it, but if it doesn't work for you, don't feel like you are doing something wrong if you decide you prefer standard running shoes.  Unfortunately, some of the devotees of barefoot running try to make it sound as if every barefoot running injury is the fault of the runner trying to progress too fast while every shod injury is the fault of the shoes.  

So here's the thing about barefoot/minimalist running - there are a lot of people that make the mistake of thinking it is a new thing, just because of THAT BOOK.

Take Bruce Tulloh, for example, running barefoot in the 60's and 70's. 

And Gordon Pirie in the 50's, advocating a forefoot strike and a minimalist type shoe. (google his book, Running Fast and Injury Free)

The craze is new, but the technique aint

but SR is right it works for some people and not for others. it also needs to be entered  into gradually as cougie says as your muscles won't be used to it.