A Skeptic wrote:
How about this: if you haven't had any injury problems you probably shouldn't worry about your stride?
If the goal is to simply run injury free, and an individual has been running injury free for years with their current stride, then their might not be a reason to work on their stride.
Some runners have other goals:
Getting faster = Probably a good idea to work on stride
More efficiency (same distance/times with less energy) = probably a good idea to work on stride
Attaining mastery in the skill of running = probably a good idea to work on stride
So yes, if all you care about is running injury free, and what you are doing is working for you, then by all means don't think about your stride, throw on the ipod and cruise around the blog. If you are actually looking to IMPROVE your running, improving your mechanics is certainly a clever approach to incorporate.
We can learn from other sports:
Do you think Tom Brady stopped working on his throwing mechanics?
Do you think Lebron James stopped working on his jump shot?
Do you think Derek Jeter stopped working on his hitting?
And these guys are just examples...just about every athlete in every other sport works on the mechanics of their position. Yet runners are still stuck in a paradigm where "you can't change your mechanics. you are born with genetics that determine your mechanics to the exact angles, foot strike, and motions of all moving parts" despite every bit of scientific evidence suggesting that YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR MECHANICS.
Of course it needs to be done VERY SKILLFULLY to have a positive effect. If it is done haphazardly, as it most often is, it will surely have a negative effect.
The people who refuse to work on their mechanics, and furthermore those who begrudge people who DO work on their mechanics tend to be lazy, uninformed, stubborn people who are scared to actually LISTEN TO THEIR BODY. These folks tend to use running to escape their body, rather than explore it.