George Sheehan has a famous quote "listen to your body" and Ayers thinks that Sheehan referred mainly to your heart, lungs, overtraining, dehydration and fatigue. He did refer to legs as well, but take not, only to the legs and not the feet. He did not combine or separate feet at all as he never refer to feet. According to Ayers, Sheehan did not know that feet actually liked rough ground.

George Sheehan was an avid runner during the 70's and 80's and Sheehan and Ayers ran together in 1970 in the first New York Marathon ever. Sheehan has great wisdom when it comes to running; however he believes that trail running is bad for feet. He did not recommend trail running at all in his advice as well as in his books.

George Sheehan and Ed Ayers do not share the same view on this subject as Ayers believes the opposite. He says a lot more muscle groups are exercised in feet and ankles during training on rough ground. The ability to straighten or correct yourself during a stumble will be greatly improved. The 26 different bones in each foot are there for a reason and exercising them on rough terrain will benefit you on any terrain.

Ed Ayers learned this method of running from downhill skiers on trails in Alta, Sun Valley, Killington, and Kitzbuhel. He noticed there that skiers fell badly when they attempt to brace themselves by the stiffening of their knees when hitting ruts or bumps. Whenever they did that they actually fell quite badly and worse than when they did not try to brace themselves.

Instructors teach skiers to give in to such situations and bend their knees instead of stiffening them. Experts do not fight the bumps, but use their hips and knees to go along with the bumps. Ed uses this approach in running as well as he say the generating of too much torque or leverage will not enable a runner to brace himself suddenly without sustaining a serious injury. Something will be sprained or broken if it should be attempted and it is advised to take care.

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