The H2C was this Friday and Saturday and I was lucky enough to have been given an entry ticket by an injured friend.
I was determined to do it BF since I had yet to wear shoes since I started running again a year ago (after over 20 years of not running). Problem was that in my quest to find the boundaries of what my feet could handle I injured them several times this summer. I only run trails, so twice I had kicked rocks and torn the soft skin between my digits and the balls of my feet. Third time was from running over a very sharp and extremely hot hill in California that resulted in some massive blood blisters a la Nate (almost).
I finally started running again nine days before the event and though my feet toughened up considerably in that time, they were far from being able to handle running 14+ miles at race pace over a day and a half.
Our van of 6 runners started at around 11 in the morning under blazing cloudless skies. The pavement was borderline hot when I started my leg #8 in the town of Boring at around noon but seemed doable as I walked around before my leg. It went well and I did the 4.55 miles in a little over 29 minutes but when I finished I was deflated to see that my little toe on my left foot was severly blistered and popped. The road was sharp chip/seal and as much as I tried to run on the ragged white line, the combination of heat and ruggedness ended up being too much. The expressions of my fellow runners were classic though and after taping some toes I felt ready to face my next leg.
With shoes. Caving in was easier than I expected because it was clearly out of the question that I let down the other 11 members on my team. I put some socks and my $5 second-hand store Crocs on and off I went on my next leg of 5.75 miles at midnight on a gravel road lit by my dim head lamp. With properly tough feet this leg (#20 - with a majority of uphill, it's considered the second hardest of the 36 legs) could be tackled truely BF providing proper illumination and race-ready feet. An endless train of follow vans drive past you kicking up enough dust to severely obscure the road. I found that the head lamp was not the right tool for the job as it lights up the dust in front of you and more importantly, doesn't cast shadow on the terrain. It shines from the perspective of your eyes so all shadows are on the side of the objects that you can't see. Not very smart.
I finished with a time of 45 some minutes for 5.75 miles. It was my first time ever running in Crocs and I was pleased to run my target time, not get injured and realize that I now had a fall-back solution for times when my foot skin was over challenged. It's strangely liberating to wear shoes and I now look forward to a more consistent training schedule. I'm still a dyed-in-the-wool BF'er but I am finally free to use shoes as tools (have to say that I prefer my new InvisibleShoe huaraches though).
The last leg was only 4.1 miles but my time of 29 some minutes reflected that I was getting ground down to the limits of my nine days of preparation. It was done in the Crocs again and despite the loud clomping, I felt that my gait was no worse for the wear.
I was told that the hardest part of the H2C was not the running but the lack of sleep and found plenty of truth in that. Hilarious times with team mates in the close quarters of the van was what filled the moments between running legs so the lack of sleep was more than manageable. All in all, the H2C was a really good time and I hope to do it again next year without the crutch of shoes.
I was determined to do it BF since I had yet to wear shoes since I started running again a year ago (after over 20 years of not running). Problem was that in my quest to find the boundaries of what my feet could handle I injured them several times this summer. I only run trails, so twice I had kicked rocks and torn the soft skin between my digits and the balls of my feet. Third time was from running over a very sharp and extremely hot hill in California that resulted in some massive blood blisters a la Nate (almost).
I finally started running again nine days before the event and though my feet toughened up considerably in that time, they were far from being able to handle running 14+ miles at race pace over a day and a half.
Our van of 6 runners started at around 11 in the morning under blazing cloudless skies. The pavement was borderline hot when I started my leg #8 in the town of Boring at around noon but seemed doable as I walked around before my leg. It went well and I did the 4.55 miles in a little over 29 minutes but when I finished I was deflated to see that my little toe on my left foot was severly blistered and popped. The road was sharp chip/seal and as much as I tried to run on the ragged white line, the combination of heat and ruggedness ended up being too much. The expressions of my fellow runners were classic though and after taping some toes I felt ready to face my next leg.
With shoes. Caving in was easier than I expected because it was clearly out of the question that I let down the other 11 members on my team. I put some socks and my $5 second-hand store Crocs on and off I went on my next leg of 5.75 miles at midnight on a gravel road lit by my dim head lamp. With properly tough feet this leg (#20 - with a majority of uphill, it's considered the second hardest of the 36 legs) could be tackled truely BF providing proper illumination and race-ready feet. An endless train of follow vans drive past you kicking up enough dust to severely obscure the road. I found that the head lamp was not the right tool for the job as it lights up the dust in front of you and more importantly, doesn't cast shadow on the terrain. It shines from the perspective of your eyes so all shadows are on the side of the objects that you can't see. Not very smart.
I finished with a time of 45 some minutes for 5.75 miles. It was my first time ever running in Crocs and I was pleased to run my target time, not get injured and realize that I now had a fall-back solution for times when my foot skin was over challenged. It's strangely liberating to wear shoes and I now look forward to a more consistent training schedule. I'm still a dyed-in-the-wool BF'er but I am finally free to use shoes as tools (have to say that I prefer my new InvisibleShoe huaraches though).
The last leg was only 4.1 miles but my time of 29 some minutes reflected that I was getting ground down to the limits of my nine days of preparation. It was done in the Crocs again and despite the loud clomping, I felt that my gait was no worse for the wear.
I was told that the hardest part of the H2C was not the running but the lack of sleep and found plenty of truth in that. Hilarious times with team mates in the close quarters of the van was what filled the moments between running legs so the lack of sleep was more than manageable. All in all, the H2C was a really good time and I hope to do it again next year without the crutch of shoes.
