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Barefoot Ted
Barefoot adventurer, LUNA Sandals founder — and the steward of borntorun.org since 2009.
Ted McDonald
In the book
Barefoot Ted McDonald is one of the book’s best-known characters. In the canyon he forms a strong bond with the Rarámuri runner Manuel Luna.12
On the reunion podcast, Ted said he had written to Caballo Blanco in 2005, after seeing Rarámuri runners race the Angeles Crest 100 in thin sandals.3
Since 2009
- 2006 →LUNA Sandals: “Manuel Luna made the first pair for Barefoot Ted. The rest is history.” The company dates itself to 2006.4
- 2009 →Has looked after borntorun.org, this independent fan site, since 2009.5
- 2017Moved to Santa Barbara, California, he said on the reunion. LUNA makes sandals in a factory in Wenatchee, Washington.36
- April 2026A guest on the 20-year reunion. LUNA hosted a page for the episode.32
At the 20-year reunion
“I figured I could put a piece of leather through a piece of rubber, and that’s basically the story of a company that I created called LUNA Sandals.”
Barefoot Ted ·
“This is a masterpiece, a work on running that will define running for a new generation of runners.”
Barefoot Ted · · reading his March 2009 blog review
“I’m not interested in the limits of what’s possible. I’m interested in the limits of what’s pleasurable.”
Christopher McDougall · · quoting Barefoot Ted
“… meeting Barefoot Ted on that trip was the thing that affected my life the most. I was like, this man knows how to travel.”
Jenn Shelton ·
“… you don’t necessarily need a lot of technology to do it. You might already have what it takes.”
Barefoot Ted ·
Verbatim from the Road Dog Podcast reunion episode (Apr 6, 2026), with the episode timestamp. See how the quotes were transcribed.
Sources
- SuperSummary — Born to Run key figures — www.supersummary.com/born-to-run-mcdougall/key-figures/
- LUNA Sandals — Born To Run 20 Year Reunion Podcast — lunasandals.com/pages/born-to-run-20-year-reunion-podcast
- Road Dog Podcast, ep. 396 “Born to Run 20 Year Reunion,” Apr 6, 2026 (official episode page) — roaddog.libsyn.com/396-born-to-run-20-year-reunion
- LUNA Sandals — Our Story — lunasandals.com/pages/our-story
- borntorun.org — home page (“Created and looked after by Barefoot Ted since 2009”) — borntorun.org/
- X profile @LUNAsandals (“Founded by @barefootted of Born to Run”) — x.com/LUNAsandals
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