Am I A Barefoot Runner? Personality Quiz!!!!
[For entertainment purposes only! 
]
I taught high school psychology for 11 years. Spending over a decade focusing on human behavior has a benefit: you become adept at assessing personality characteristics.
Since I started barefoot running, I’ve made some interesting observations. Essentially, almost all barefoot runners show some remarkably similar personality characteristics.
If you ARE a barefoot runner, or are CONSIDERING barefoot running, read through these observations. See how many fit. Let’s make a game out of this. For each “true” statement, give yourself 1 point. If it is false, give yourself 0 points. Each one is mostly true or mostly false. There is no middle; make a choice!
The Barefoot Runner: A Profile
- Barefoot runners tend to have a great deal of energy most of the time, but also seem to require times of complete rest. Depending on when you catch us, we either look like exercise fanatics or couch potatoes.
- We seem to crave the attention of an extrovert, but often become introverts in many unfamiliar social situation.
- We’re slightly distrustful of most authority figures.
- We are both self-confident and filled with painful self-doubt. We mix thinly-veiled bragging with bouts of questioning our own abilities. We come off as humble, but sometimes aloof.
- We have no problem with gender identity as it is often a subject of our humor.
- Same deal with bodily functions, including those of a sexual nature.
- Some of our goals are pretty unrealistic, but we secretly wish to pursue them. People around us, if they knew of the goals, would dismiss them as being unattainable or silly.We have a tendency to be critical of ourselves, though we don’t always express this.
- We are capable of profound wisdom, yet we often exhibit a juvenile sense of humor.
- Most of us have a hidden talent not too many people know about, and we could probably do great things with that talent. Fear keeps us from trying.
- We are pretty good at compensating for our weaknesses.
- We strive for security in our life.
- We tend to worry a lot, but we don’t show it.
- We sometimes question decisions we’ve made in the past.
- We don’t like when other people set limits on us and tend to rebel when it happens.
- We’re independent thinkers, which relates to the previous statement.
- We rarely reveal our true self to others mostly due to bad past experiences with one or a small number of individuals.
- We get bored easily.
- We tend to go through a lot of ups and downs, and it is a major cause of stress in our lives.
- We are very selective with whom we choose as close friends, but we have many acquaintances.
- We are very generous most of the time, but we have a selfish streak that appears once in awhile. This selfishness causes a lot of guilt.
Okay, add up your score. How many scored 15 or higher? If you are reading this, odds are you’re a barefoot runner OR aspiring barefoot runner. I would expect the vast majority of readers to get a high score.
Post your score in the “comments’ section! If you enjoyed it, please tweet or share it via Facebook! 
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Thanks to Christian Peterson for reviewing the first and second editions of The Barefoot Running Book. The review can be found here:
http://maplegrovebarefootguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-of-barefoot-running-book-by.html
30 Comments
Rollback
February 13, 2011Like reading about myself…19 solid, going to 20
Jason, it seems barefooters are more similar, that we think
CourirPiedsNus
February 12, 2011Ah – 17 – wow, I never suspected such a good fit! My barefoot mileage is now greater than my minimalist mileage – just today I ran 11K barefoot, a person record since beginning my conversion in September. Christian in Paris (I think there must be about 5 barefooters in the whole of France!) If you’re in or around Paris, get in touch
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February 12, 2011[...] how many copies you sell. Disclaimer- I am not a trained marketer… I just have enough knowledge about human psychology to be fairly effective. Here are my [...]
Treeves
February 12, 2011I said yes to 17 of them. In the middle of it I started wondering if this was like one of those fortune teller things, where everyone mostly says yes. But maybe not. I particularly agree with 5, 11, 13, 14 and 17. Fun post, Jason!
Nate
February 11, 2011The only one’s that weren’t “true” were due to the fact that I’m older and don’t give a damn anymore..taken 20 years ago…100%…but you already know that, I think you just profiled me and made up the questions based on my personality.
StaceyLynn
February 11, 201118 for me.
shel
February 11, 2011only 11. must be why i am a true minimalist runner… my personality is lacking in some area :-/
edh
February 10, 201118 here. 18.5 really. One was very difficult to decide on and I opted for false because my score was getting too high as it was.
Christine
February 10, 2011Lots of fun! I scored a 17!
Hank
February 10, 2011Sorry, I can’t help but notice the similarity between this and a daily horoscope.
briderdt
February 10, 2011Funny. I’m not a barefoot runner, and really have no desire to lose my shoes completely. Though the next pair I’m looking at is the Merrell Trail Glove… So I figured I’d just keep score in my head. By the time I got to question 3 I knew I had to write it down. Too bad I can’t count some of them for 2 points, they were so spot on. I got 16/20…
The Maple Grove Barefoot Guy
February 10, 2011Thanks for the blog plug. As expected, I am 20 for 20.
Jesse
February 10, 2011I wasn’t suprised to get a 20/20, but I was suprised that you finally told everybody about your jamaican accent.
Brandon M
February 10, 201113 but I guess I am not good enough to be a barefootnrunner!
Missy
February 10, 2011Wow, this describes me to a T. I got a score of 19.
Scott
February 10, 201117/20 Does that mean I can stay?
James
February 10, 2011Nice try, but this is a bit like reading your horoscope. Everything applies to everyone to some degree. Let’s just agree we all like to run barefoot!
Jason
February 10, 2011But James, I have a gift!
Tyro
February 10, 2011Are you sure you didn’t write astrological personality profiles, ’cause you’re a great loss to any profession which requires describing essentially everyone
Jason
February 10, 2011Close Tyro, I interned with Ms. Cleo. I still have my Jamaican accent and everything…
Nick
February 10, 2011That quiz is eerily true, Jason. I’m 20/20. What a riot!
David Sutherland
February 10, 201111? What am I doing on this website? Oh well. May as well slip on my VFFs and head out for a run.
Dan Stoner
February 10, 2011Worried you didn’t score high enough? Ha! This is a BAREFOOT quiz. There is a separate quiz for VFF runners.
David Sutherland
February 10, 2011I’m only a seasonal (i.e. not winter) barefooter, so I guess I’ll stick to the VFF forum in the meantime…
Jason
February 10, 2011David, rest assured, you’d score higher in the BF season.
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Karen
February 10, 201119/20 here as well. Very interesting that these can be fairly common traits in barefoot runners. Thanks for the kick towards self reflection this morning
Patti
February 10, 201117-Quite eye-opening…to read “me” in 17 of 20 statements, very entertaining. By the way, I have been running in the Merrell Pace-Love them!! Between the Pace Gloves and rolling a golf ball to relieve my plantar fasciitis, this is the BEST my foot has felt in 4 1/2 months!!
Kent
February 10, 2011Great list 19 points for me. Nearly 20/20!!
Benny Halevy
February 10, 2011That’s an impressive profiling work, Jason.
I scored 17!