philly marathon

macdiver

Barefooters
Dec 22, 2010
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I ran the philly marathon barefoot today. I saw a few vibrams and lots of newton but i think I was the only barefooter. There was a man running the half barefoot. He gave a nice talk at the expo.

My time was 4:40:42. Not great but i am happy with it since i was not able to run the last 3 weeks due to Sandy and a poorly timed vacation.

Since my training was not perfect my form broke down the last few mile and I have a blister on my right heel of all places. Must have been heel striking or landing flat foot and rolling.
 
Wonderful! Congrats on finishing...barefoot! Running a marathon is incredible in itself, but you did it barefoot. Not many people can say they have.
 
Here is my race report from another forum I frequent. Hopefully the emoticons won't miss things up. Thanks for the congratulations.


Race Report:

I know I won't be as elegant as Seltzer in my writing about running. He can make a non runner want to run a marathon.

The first 6 miles of the race was through center city from the art museum down to the delaware river then up south street. From there we went past Washington Square to market then across the Schuylkill river. This was my favorite part of the race due to the crowds. The streets were lined with people. At first I figured it was all the people stuck in traffic but since they were cheering and not cursing I realized these are people who were there to support us. Around mile 2 I stopped and removed my long pants. At mile 6 I took my first walk break and had some honey.

Once across the Schuylkill river the crowds thined out. The frats and sororities from Drexel were out cheering us and partying. I don't think they had stopped from saturday. I stopped to use the portapotty here and lost some time. The two guys in front of me were in there forever. I chose that line since I figured guys would be quicker than the women. Nope. From Drexel we headed up hill and out to the zoo were we went down hill to the schuylkill and back to the art museum for the halfway point. At the halfway point I had a banana. One of the construction guys that I had worked with for the last year had come out to cheer me on. It really touched me. Emo as we say on this board.
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From here the crowd thinned out since half of the people were running the half marathon. On my next walk break the 4:30 pace group caught up to me. I stayed with them till mile 18. At mile 18 I had to take my first non planned walk break because I just could not run anymore. All previous walk breaks were to eat or drink at a water station. From mile 16 the run goes up the schuykill to Manayunk with a short detour across a bridge and back.

Miles 16 on were the tough miles. At mile 19 in Manayunk there was a bar (?) or maybe just some guys handing out beer. When one of them said "want a beer?" I responded hell yes. Then he noticed my barefeet and started chanting "go barefoot guy, down that beer" and was soon joined by the others.
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From there you turn around and head back to the start finish line at the Art Museum.


At mile 24 or so a lady stopped me to take my picture with her son noting my barefeet. I'm not sure if I would take a picture of my son with some stranger running a marathon barefoot, but I was happy to comply.

I finished strong at a time of 4:40:42 which I am satisfied with. Would I have liked to run faster, yes but my training was not sufficient for that.

I did end up with a few blisters. The worse one is on my right heel. This is odd since I am suppose to lower my heel gently to the ground after landing on my forefoot. This indicates that my form completely broke down as I got tired.

Today my calfs are sore but not as bad as I would have expected after not running for 3 weeks then running 26.2 miles.

Post race analysis is that I needed to be more discipline in my training.
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My initial training program called for me to run 24 miles. This was written by a bare-footer who believes that the jump from 20 to 26.2 that most programs call for does not adequately prepare the soles of the bare-footer. This is too large of a single run increase and I am now convinced he is right.


Overall though, I finished what most people won't start, shoes or not.

The reason I run barefoot is my knees used to be sore and swollen after every run. Today my knees are neither.
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Edited to add: Some how when I stopped to remove my pants I stopped my garmin. Once I realized over a mile had passed and probably 10 minutes. Later in Manayunk I noticed it was stopped again. When I finished the race it only showed me only running 24.5 miles. Unfortunately I don't have good data for this race.
 
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Very well done, Mr. Mac. That's a fine time for a first time Marathon, and amazing to do with BF and an eccentric training schedule.

Where's your home turf? I'm out by Valley Forge and don't see many BF brethren.
 
Nice Job macdiver. Thanks for the report. Seeing these marathon reports on here gets me excited and motivated for my next one. Hint, hint, Chelsea, Pilot, and Devilnuts.

I agree with you on a 20 mile training run not being enough for a barefoot marathon. Also, training on rough and varied conditions and more weekly miles. Things I am working on right now. You just don't know what you are going to encounter on a marathon.
 
Having not yet run a barefoot marathon (or even a barefoot half-mary), a completion of any kind is immensely impressive, and I hope you realize how really awesome this accomplishment is. There's a reason WHY you didn't see any other barefooters: most people are too afraid to take that first barefoot run (something that we barefooters all know is the real game-changer). Not only were you brave enough to take that first run, you were dedicated enough to work through your form issues, the patience to learn "from square one," the resolve to maintain any sort of marathon training program. Macdiver, pat yourself on the back. You did something that 99.9% of runners can only dream of doing. :)
 
Big congrats! That's an awesome achievement.

Can I ask what the experience was like for your feet? I know that I'll beat my feet up (just tenderness, not abrasion) if I run much more that 10% beyond what I've run previously. Is it different for you? In other words, within reason, are your feet no longer the limiting factor in how far you can run? Are they tender after, needing a day or two of recovery?
 
Congrats on running philly Barefoot. Thats a great acomplishment. I did steamtown barefoot and the D&L half barefoot half luna sandals. Doing ocean drive, NJ, AC marathons and a few others next year hope to see you keep up the good work.
 
Ah, yes, I didn't realize that anyone actually lived out there. Silly me.


Do you know Sloutre? I haven't seen much of her lately, but she's not far from you, I think.
Talking about me Jo? It's my first time back on the forum in month, I thought nobody would remember me ;-)
Congratulations MacDiver! I'm not too far from you, in Marlton. I started running trails on Sundays with the Pineland Strider (and Barefoot Everett). You could join us, you're not very far. But i wear my Merrells, I having been barefoot since the Summer.
 
Big congrats! That's an awesome achievement.

Can I ask what the experience was like for your feet? I know that I'll beat my feet up (just tenderness, not abrasion) if I run much more that 10% beyond what I've run previously. Is it different for you? In other words, within reason, are your feet no longer the limiting factor in how far you can run? Are they tender after, needing a day or two of recovery?

I have ran 3 marathons, and a 50k on trails, barefoot. When you start to run barefoot 100%, and train barefoot for marathons, the feet feel great. I could run the next day after a marathon if I could, my feet feel awesome but my legs are shot. My feet or soles never get tired, it's everything above the ankles that start to give in.
 
Hey, Everett! I was signed up and ready to run the D&L, but fell out of a tree the week before it and am only just beginning to get my legs under me now. I was planning to wear my vff's because I know I couldn't have handled gravel for that many miles. I'm sorry I missed you and the race.
 
Hey, Everett! I was signed up and ready to run the D&L, but fell out of a tree the week before it and am only just beginning to get my legs under me now. I was planning to wear my vff's because I know I couldn't have handled gravel for that many miles. I'm sorry I missed you and the race.
The gravel was rough in some sections I had to put my Luna's on only because I was trying for a sub 4 in that one and didnt was to slow down to do it all barefoot. I ran about 18 of it Barefoot and the rest in the Luna's. Im sure we'll meet up sometime I usually run my big races in a BRS shirt so I'm hard to miss.
 
Talking about me Jo? It's my first time back on the forum in month, I thought nobody would remember me ;-)
Congratulations MacDiver! I'm not too far from you, in Marlton. I started running trails on Sundays with the Pineland Strider (and Barefoot Everett). You could join us, you're not very far. But i wear my Merrells, I having been barefoot since the Summer.
Wait you've been running with me? Did you tell me you were sloutre?