Barefoot running...good idea?

[Jolt]

Jolt,

do you overpronate or have any other gait issues? Then it's probably not a good idea to run barefoot.

The top runner in my tri club told me he exclusively runs on hard surfaces, never on soft trails or barefoot except for foot strengthening gymnastics, because he feels there is too much strain on soft tissues/ligaments.

he's really, really (scary) good. go figure.

I only very mildly overpronate (and according to what the guy at the running shoe shop said it's just because my feet turn out slightly) so nothing major. As for the IT band issues, I'm almost positive (based on what the PT had said and what I have noticed by paying more attention to my body) that it is all from an imbalance between TFL and glutes (TFL doing too much and glutes slacking off) on that side. So I'm working on those glutes and stretching the heck out of the TFL. It's weird that the imbalance only seems to be on that side (the right side feels like everything is working fine, the left just doesn't feel right!).