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| Running Barefoot Along the Trails |
I recently found a website where they keep an updated calendar of all the races going on in my area, and would you have guessed it, there was a trail race this weekend, The Gunstock Ranch Half Marathon and 5K. I had initially wanted to run the half marathon in my five fingers, but due to work I would not able able too. So, I settled on the next best thing. I decided to run the 5K.
This would be the first trail race I ran, and the first time I ran a trial in over 6 years. It was also going to be the first race I have run in my Vibrams. Note the key word, was.
I show up in the morning as a walk on racer. Strap on my Vibrams and go over to the registration site. It was still dark and the fields were not light up, but the ground felt mostly rock free. I sign up, get my number and walk around to warm up my legs and kill some time. As the sun starts to come over the mountain, I see that the field is mostly grass with minimal pebbles and rocks. I ask one of the course volunteers if the 5K trail was mostly dirt roads or dirt and grass. To my delight she told me that the course was mostly pasture and dirt trails. Then it hit me, I am going to run this race barefoot.
I walk to the starting line and walk about 100 yards over the first hill and took a look around. Soft dirt trails and a few rocks here and there. As I walk back to the starting line into the staging area, I stop, take a look around, and then strip off my Vibrams. This was going to be my first trail race, and my first time running barefoot.
Rewind the clock about 2 months ago, I was just beginning training for a military event involving moving very quickly with weight on your back for long distances. This event is called ruck marching or a forced march. Of the many things that can go wrong while performing this event is blisters and one of the ways I was recommended to toughen my feet was to walk barefoot on asphalt. After my first few steps, I realized that my heel was hitting the ground first and I instantly changed my stride to a better feeling one. From that point on I would continue to walk barefoot gradually increasing my distances and the way I strike the ground with my feet.
Fast forward to 1.5 miles into my first barefoot trail race. I am feeling good, passing people enjoying the run and the feel of the ground under my feet. Every couple people I pass or that pass me would say something to me about running barefoot. Then I see it. Everyone else tries to avoid it as best they can. A smile comes across my face. A nice big patch of mud that consumed the whole trail. As I run through the mud barefoot for the first time ever, the mud filled the spaces between my toes. What a weird, yet delightful feeling.
Keeping pace with a group in front of me I relied strongly on them to lead the way along the trail as I keep an eye out for obstacles and the next location of my foot strike. I look at my watch and think to myself, I have been running for awhile and I still have not hit the 2 mile marker yet. I kept running focusing on the trial. We come around a sweeping right hand turn and I see another trail with people running on it. People I had already passed in the very beginning of the race. A few minutes later we finally hit the 2 mile marker and I look at my watch, it read 26 minutes.
Now I have been running along time and I have a very good sense of the pace I am running. Given I was running a little slower then usual because of being barefoot, I know I was not running a 13 minute mile. Later, upon completion of the race, it turns out that a good number of people had missed the turn off for the 5K and ended up running extra like myself.
The first 2 miles was mostly uphill and soft dirt trails. Boy would I miss that part of the trail. The last mile or so was down hill, completely covered with rocks and pebbles with no place for my feet to find a soft landing spot. It was pretty painful but I thought to myself, you already went this far without putting the vibrams on, you might as well finish it out. And I did. I crossed the line at just over 36 minutes. Meaning the last mile, where I was creeping along and walking in many parts, was a 10 minute mile. If I had stayed on the correct trail, I figure I would have had a finish time of 26-28 minutes.
After I finished and was standing by the water I heard one person talking to her friend about the course and one said to the other "and did you see that foot print in the mud?", I just laughed a little to myself.
I have been reading alot about running barefoot/minimalist and I realized how few and far between these type of runners there are yesterday. Of all the people who raced, about 150, only 5 people ran in a "minimalist" shoe. Of these 5, 2 were running Vibram kso's. The other 3 were wearing Nike Free's, which to me are not a minimalist shoe because they have quite a bit of heel on them.
In the category of barefoot runners in the race, it was just me. So I guess you can say if they had a barefoot category, I would have won 1st place.What was my trophy you ask? Well I was awarded 3 blisters and sore feet for 2 days. If someone would have asked me if I were to do it again? I would say "Where do I sign up?"
