Article: Boston Bound: Powered by the People By Glen Raines, a.k.a., Barefoot Caveman

[Ludo]

Congratulations Glen for completing your dream race and sharing with us your experience!

Great article!! You make us (barefooters) very proud

 

[Barefoot Caveman]

Thanks Ludo! That means a lot to me. It was quite an amazing journey and it was a pleasure to share it with everyone. It was kewl also finishing the Boston Bound series. Geez, now I need to think up something to do for my next blog series...

 

[Barefoot Terry]

Hey Glen,

Congrats on Boston!!! I had been following your story about your pre-race injury and was hoping that you still managed to do Boston. Glad you had the chance to represent all of us BFRs!!!

 

[Ludo]

I was wondering that as well.

Glen, how did you manage to run without pain during Boston when your knee bothered you after only 1 mile the day before??

Did you change your form somehow?

Would love to read your thoughts on that as I went through the exact same problem last year before NYC marathon. I wasn't as lucky as you were. Got to finish it but the last 10 miles sucked.

The good thing about it... it's what brought me to discover barefoot running!

 

[Barefoot Caveman]

Thanks Barefoot Terry! I do believe in fate, so I'm sure the injury was all part of the master plan, lol. Thankfully it turned out to be the best race experience I've ever had . Do I have any regrets? No. Would I repeat what I did? No. I was determined to run the Boston marathon. Mission accomplished, lol! I wouldn't mind running Boston again, but not if I have an injury.

I had this comic strip hanging at my cubicle at work. Never again! hahaha

 

[Barefoot Caveman]

I'm not sure how I got through the marathon unscathed Ludo, given I experienced pain after only a mile the day before. It may have been a combination of a few things: foam rolling my legs to death a couple hours before the marathon, 3 tylenol taken 15 minutes before the start of the race, feeding off the positive energy from the crowd, the sheer adrenaline of being in the race, maintaining good electrolyte hydrationand gu intake, running the best form I possibly could, maintaining perfect pace, and without any sudden stops or sprints.

 

[Neil_D]

Great report Glen.

You really drew a great picture of running in the marathon and doing it in a very unique way. I don't think I would ever have the nerve to so anything like that. Most of the time I am just getting accustomed to running without shoes in a race and not feeling too self conscious.

It is getting easier, I think I have run in around 6 races so far and I guess the more you do the easier it gets. I'm not sure if my feet would hold up to the marathin distance.

How did you find the different road surfaces? were there good ones and bad ones along the route. I can imagine smooth bitumin would be fine but any stretches of chip seal would not be too nice.

Neil

 

[Barefoot Caveman]

Thanks Neil! I'll admit it is a little scary at times running in a skimpy loincloth. I have received a handful of heckler or negative remarks, but the overwhelming response has been very positive. Folks in general ate up the caveman. If 9 people smile and 1 persons frowns, hey its a great day.

When I first started racing barefoot, I was a little self-conscious. Now that its become a popular topic in the running community, I don't think much about it anymore.

With any distance race, the key is training for that distance. I think that the popular marathon training plans would work with the exception maybe of modifying your training days to let your pads heal on alternate days. Also key is varying your training surfaces. As uncomfortable as it may be, its important to run on the crappy stuff to build your pads and to teach your body to adjust form to adjust to the surface.

San Diego, where I do my training, has some pretty crappy streets. Its obvious the street sweeper doesn't make enough rounds either. The Boston marathon course felt like butter after all the SD street training. I thought it was a pretty smooth clean course.

 

[megabarefoot]

You're one fine specimen of human male and every time I see pics of you doing your cave man thing at the finish line I chuckle. Well done man. I Hope that one day next year at this time I'll be able to run barefoot on just about anything (as most experienced BFRers seem to do) and wonder "hmm, when did this happen." I'm not quite there yet but the more I read about it the more confident I get that eventually I'll be able to do 5-10k runs without feeling a damn thing.

The story of how you started going barefoot is equally awesome. I'm not quite past my concerns of damaging myself by hiking barefoot or even going in grass. Who knows what is in there but I'll get over. Thanks for the chuckles man and good with the rest of your list.

 

[dunetraveller]

All I can say is WOW! I remember the Las Vegas run blog post like it was yesterday... well, maybe like it as last month ;-) and now the Boston is in the past. You are one heck of a figure for the barefoot running community, and a please accept a hearty Thanks! from me. Way to go!

John

 

[Joshh]

Awesome Glen. Good job amigo. Like others have said above, you make our community proud. You are obviously having so much fun - a great reminder to everyone to keep it real.