I never read Born to Run but was familiar with the Tahamura Indians of Mexico who run barefoot.

I started running again in the early 2000s as a compliment to my cycling activities.

I was on a mountain bike race team starting in the mid-2000s which had Merrel as a sponsor so I switched from conventional running shoes (in which one runs with a heal strike) to Merrel's zero rise "barefoot" shoes. These shoes require a runner to land on the ball of their foot. I used these shoes for about 3 seasons successfully completing a 25K a couple times.

However, when training for another season in the spring of 2014, I developed pain in my foot. I took a couple weeks off hoping to be able to finish that upcoming 25k. Unfortunately, I ended up dropping out of the race within 2 miles due to the pain.

Later that summer, running with my wife as she trained for a half marathon I was using my hiking shoes and a conventional heel strike (and a short stride) I had no foot pain.

I went to the premier local running store Gazelle Sports and described the issue. The clerk immediately said "Morton's Neuroma, look it up". It is an inflamed nerve between the bones above the toes. The clerk recommended Brooks Dyad shoes due to their wide toe-box. I have been running in them ever since with no issues.

Conventional running does NOT cause injuries! Poor FORM of conventional running causes injuries.

More power to those who can run barefoot style, but in my opinion, it is not suited to modern running especially when so much of it is done on pavement.