A Barefoot Trail Race Report: “Doesn’t It Hurt?”

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A Barefoot Trail Race Report:
“Doesn’t It Hurt?”
By Thea Gavin

I wrote the “race report” below the day after the Renegade Racing Summer Trail Series Race at Peters Canyon Regional Park in Orange, CA, on July 12, 2012. I didn’t bring my camera that day, so all I’ve got is a bunch of words to try to show how much fun it was to run, all out, five miles on the trails, barefoot.


Barefoot and juggling umbrella, checkbook, and water bottle, I slippy-stepped my way to the late registration table.

An hour earlier, the weird-for-Orange-County July afternoon overcast had begun to drip, which decided matters for me: perfect trail running conditions.

So I found myself at 5 p.m. on July 12 at the Renegade Racing Summer Trail Run Series, no shoes on, signing up for the 5-mile evening trail race through Peters Canyon Regional Park—famous with local cross country teams who train on its steep ridge-line trails, famous with me for being the place I found a little bit of happiness on horse-back during my angsty teen years. Yeah, those 1970s.

While I might have sacrificed a few brain cells back then, listening to Led Zeppelin and the Doobie Brothers on loopy 8-track tapes, residual derangement wasn’t the reason I’d left my trail running treads at home for this race. Read more here: http://theagavin.wordpress.com/2012...report-to-answer-the-question-doesnt-it-hurt/

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"Why was it, then, that my feet started sending false signals to my brain: “Whoa! This stuff is sharp. We’re getting sore already. How are we gonna last for five miles of this?”
Luckily my frontal lobe didn’t fall for this pre-race dithering (although it took a few minutes to realize what was going on and send a “shut the @^*&! up” message to my nervous feet)."

HAHAHA...I have this just about every race. Even if I've been there and run that several times, I still get that feeling. And usually I give the same time of response...love it! Great recap.
 
It sounds like a fun race. Thanks for sharing.
I think that the initial reaction you notice when going from shod to BF or from riding in a car to stepping out BF is much the same as turning on a bright light in the dark. The nerves have become overly sensitive looking for input. As soon as they adjust to the light or in this case the feeling of the surface they are happy to enjoy the sensations.

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Hi Thea, I would go for a run with you anytime! (Don't worry - I won't drop in on you anytime soon. I live near Philly and don't get out much.) I think you have the right attitude. ... and you're old enough to know what's good for you!
Thanks for sharing that great trail run with us here at the BRS.