"Good form" running like XC?

I just saw an article about "good form" running in a local health
tabloid, written by a young NCAA champ and Olympian.

He gave a list of tips for injury-free running. Land on mid-foot. And
lean forward from ankles. That last one opened my eyes. Isn't that
deep flex ankle something big in XC? I didn't know it was also
involved with running. He had other points but in general he said we
should run as if we were running barefoot. That we shouldn't change
our motion because of shoes giving foot protection. Coz shoes don't
protect. He said heel-toe is recipe for disaster.

I recall discovering the ticket to a 5 minute mile for me. I was
mostly a bike racer, so I went for high rpm's, short stride and...heel-
toe. I started letting my shoes do the work. I ran from my lungs. My
lungs had more capacity than my muscles for distance work. It was
great fun. Speed was easy this way. Actually, as the speed went up the
stride did lengthen some, but I would always first work on "spinning
out" and maxing out footspeed before adding length. The whole thing
relied on heel-toe. Upright torso. It was like I was being a bike
racer out there on my feet. I never got hurt but I did/do notice that
my feet got sore, depending on shoe and terrain. I wonder if I tried
to run as if I was barefoot how that would go...