BRS members experience success and just plain, good, old fun!
Caesar Rodney Half
By Barefoot Ramzev
I ran the Caesar Rodney 1/2 marathon in Wilmington, DE yesterday. It was a chilly day and the course was very hilly, but I managed to run a PR by almost a minute. Previous PR was 1:46:50, yesterday I ran a 1:45:58. This is the oldest continuously run road race in the United States, it was the 50th running.Pic from the race, I'm in red.
I had some great comments during this race. Funny how people assume you are deaf if you're running barefoot, and you can't hear them talking about you.
One guy said that he felt like a sissy wearing shoes.
A women said that it's guy like me who can ruin her business, I assume she sells shoes.
A guy said that at least I don't run naked. Kinda of an odd comment, but ok.
Probably around 7 - 10 people asked me about it, why I was barefoot and how long. A couple asked about the transition. Basically, all positive conversations.
One of the volunteers yelled "There's Barefoot Dave!" I guess I'm getting a bit famous around here?
I really didn't have any cold issues with my feet. I did about a one mile warm up jog barefoot, then I put on socks while I waited for the race to start. At the start the road felt really cold, but as I warmed up so did my feet.
I was concerned a bit on Saturday, we had a lot of rain and I didn't want a cold AND wet road surface for the race. Luckily, even though it was cold, the sun was out so the road dried up fairly well before the start. There were a couple areas in the shade where the road was still wet, that was cold, but mainly on the top of my feet from the splashing puddles.
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Some Sort of Shamrock 15K
By Paraganek
15k, barefoot, easy route (running on golf course), finished in 01:15:47 (my new 15k PR), placed 4th in my AG and the most important - had a blast!!
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World of Beer Shamrock Run 10K
By Tristan-OH
So I ran today in the World of Beer Shamrock Run 5k/10k. Was accompanied by my friends Amber and Beau. Amber and I went for 10k while Beau who is just getting back into running did the 5k. It was her first and only my second ever 10k, though I have also completed a half last year so not like the distance is new to me. And my first 10k was 2 years ago while I was still shod, and I actually made a wrong turn so don't have accurate time (my GPS had me about 50 minutes at the 10k point though I added an extra mile overall).
It seems I have been plagued with problems the last few runs and this one was no exception. Last weekend I got a sore throat and though I only felt bad for a day, I had lingering congestion, sneezing, coughing, and lost my voice for a couple days this past week. I probably should have cancelled but since I got a couple of my friends to run, was the one carpooling, and already offered food and drink after, well I was committed. Oh I'm a bit stubborn too! Well the last few days I felt pretty much fine just had this cough still. As long as I drank hot tea and honey I seemed fine. I drank a lot of hot tea and honey the last couple days! On to the race...
I was really planning on barefoot, temp was suppose to be up to 50, but as the event grew nearer the forecast plummeted. I think it was around 34 when we left for the race. I could do it but I knew my toes would go numb so hoping my luck with my Bikilis from last time would hold up, I decided to run in them again:
They did pretty good, but a little over half way I did start getting a little bit of arch cramping that has plagued me this winter (mainly while minishod). By that time I was pretty exhausted and slowing down anyhow, I took it a bit easier for a little bit after feeling the twinges, and tempted fate and tried to alter my form just so slightly to the outsides of my foot. It helped, I never had the cramps get bad like they sometimes do.
And finally, across the finish line with 46:43 for a pace of 7:31 not to bad for being sick, and I think only about 15 seconds slower pace than my last 5k. 13 out of 127 in the 10k was pretty good for me! And my friend Amber made her goal of beating an hour for her first 10k by a few minutes. After the race we got a commemorative beer glass and a free beer, though all they had left when the three of us went in was Yuengling Light, but good enough for recovering a few carbs.
Garmin lined right up with the official times.
Oh, and I was representing with an appropriately colored BRS shirt (well a custom one I threw together at least):
The place was so packed though that we gave up trying to have a drink or get any food and went on to find a slightly less packed place. A few appetizers, sandwich, and a Great Lakes Alchemy Hour really hit the spot! We all had a blast!
No medal with this race, but that's fine by me. This I can actually use...