This (half) marathon runner will jog Jerusalem barefoot

It won’t be hard to pick out runner Rom Carmi during Friday’s Jerusalem Marathon. He’ll be the one running barefoot, his long mane of wavy brown hair streaming behind him.

To be accurate, Carmi is running the half marathon, not the full 42-kilometer marathon.

He says he’s motivated by the meditative aspects of running, and what he sees as the opportunity to be connected to the ground and the environment with his bare soles hitting the sidewalk.

“The distance isn’t what pushes me,” said Rom, 31, who discovered running competitions about four years ago and has participated in at least a dozen by now, both local and international. “For me, it’s social. I come to meet my people, my fans. It’s a huge social event.”

Barefoot Rom, as he’s known on social media — primarily Instagram and TikTok — has found fame and influence for his barefoot habits, along with nudity, veganism and being at one with one’s body.

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He grew up in Kibbutz Yotvata in the Negev desert, where he did everything barefoot, including milking the cows (for the famous chocolate milk) and driving the tractor. Rom says he was a chubby kid and began running in the fifth grade.

Rom Carmi, also known as Barefoot Rom, believes in running barefoot, and will take part in the March 17, 2023 Jerusalem half marathon –shown here running on the Tel Aviv boardwalk (Courtesy Alan Tchernilov)

After his release from the army Rom came across a video of Abebe Bikila, an Ethiopian marathon runner who ran barefoot in the 1960 Rome Olympics and won the gold.

So he began running with barefoot sandals — minimalist shoes that mimic a bare foot — before switching to running completely barefoot.

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“The sole of my foot is so strong, there’s no possibility of me injuring myself,” said Rom, who is part of a community of about 50 people in Israel who run barefoot.

He posts videos of himself running, alone or with friends, on sand dunes, in the snow of Mount Hermon, on grass and on the pavement of the Tel Aviv boardwalk.

Rom Carmi, also known as Barefoot Rom, believes in running barefoot, and will take part in the March 17, 2023 Jerusalem half marathon –shown here at Mount Hermon (Courtesy Max Demeter)

While he’s gained a certain amount of social media fame for his bare feet, it seems to be kids who really identify with him, and they often jog alongside him on the Tel Aviv streets where he runs daily at sunset.

“They see me as a kind of superhero, as someone who can do anything,” said Rom.

He’s built on that, and now conducts interviews during marathons, asking people about themselves and their running.

“People connect to it because it’s authentic,” said Rom, adding that he jumps around during the actual race, running and recording people simultaneously. “When we’re running, we can’t be anything else.”

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Rom wears shoes sometimes, particularly during his daily job as a photographer. But when he’s at home, or running, it’s bare feet all the time.

“I’m like a deer now that I run 50 kilometers a week,” he said. “I really see running as meditation, it clears my head.”

The running and the bare feet are more than just an image or lifestyle, said Rom.

“I think we always have to stop and ask questions about why we do things,” he said. “They push products on us that we don’t know if we need. Like jogging shoes.”

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