Member Profile of the Week - Daniel "Danjo" Jensen - An aspiring barefoot runner

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Member Profile of the Week
Daniel "Danjo" Jensen
An aspiring barefoot runner
BRS member Daniel Jensen, also known as Danjo on the forums, at 16 years old is one of our youngest members. He has lived in Farmington, New Mexico, for the past 12 years, where he works as a lifeguard, but originally comes from Portland, Oregon. After he graduates from high school, he plans to attend New Mexico Tech where he will study mechanical engineering. He plays guitar and sometimes sings in a metal/acoustic band, which he writes the music for. He attends all advancedplacement core classes at school and is in drama and the choir as well.
Danjo admits most of his miles come from hiking, not running, and shares one of his adventures here. “The first time I climbed Mt. Elbert I was with two of my friends, and when we came to a cross-roads on the trail, we met a firefighter, a Boy Scout, and a mountain climber with a map. [I was expecting a joke here too.] They seemed like people we should be able to trust, so we followed the path they were on. The actual story is far too long to tell here, but to summarize, we ended up on the complete wrong side of the mountain and had to hike 3 miles across the ridgeline to reach the actual summit.” [Now that’s funny.]
He has been running for the past four years and until recently was a member of the Piedra Vista High School Cross-CountryTeam. He apparently had to quit because of barefoot running. “My coach doesn’t really like my barefooting, and my form wasn’t good enough to let me keep up with the team. I’ve since improved significantly and gotten the Barefoot Runner’s mindset.”
Danjo has some impressive PRs with 5:57 in the mile, 21:10 in the 5K, 40-45 minutesish in the 10K, 1:15 in the 10 mile, and 1:45 minutesish in the half. He shares, “All my PRs are with shoes. I have yet to run any races barefoot, and I haven’t gone further than 5-6 miles so far. Despite this fact, I’m planning on doing mycross-country team's annual 10 mile run in two weeks. I don’t know what to expect, other than a lot of walking.”
His favorite distance is 10 miles, and his favorite races are the Totah Invitational 5K and the Bayfield Invitational 5K. “Totah is my teams home course, and it’s super hard (I’m a bit of a masochist when it comes to running), and Bayfield has a super hill, and many subsequent downhills, which you can practically fly down.”
He says he’s not sure why he enjoys running. “I just do enjoy it. It gets rid of stress and honestly has the same affect on my brain as sleeping. I like to go fast, I like to go far, I just like to go. It helps that I’m fairly good at it.”
He explains why he started running barefoot. “I came for the promise of higher speed, greater efficiency, and freedom from injuries. I stayed for the fun, pure childlike joy, freedom, ninja-ness, being in touch with myself, and hopefully that other stuff too.”
Daniel has some large running goals that include “an Xterra next summer, an Iron Man in 2012, Pikes Peak Marathon sometime, and somewhere far in the future the Leadville 100 and the Badwater Basin Ultramarathon, all barefoot, if that’s even possible.” [Daniel, you seem like you have enough determination to get it done too! And as I’ve always said… for anyone who is crazy enough toattempt running Badwater barefoot, I'm crazy enough to crew for you.]
Danjo says what makes him unusual is that “I’m a barefoot runner. Ha ha! That’s interesting and unusual. Other than that, I’m developing my own life philosophy, which is basically Hakuna Matata. Don’t stress, don’t worry, just take life as it is, go with the flow, don’t make plans, trust God, be open-minded, be considerate, never do anything malicious, be content, and go running. That’s my secret to happiness. (Even though the lack of planning and worrying gets me into trouble with our overplanned, overstressed world sometimes.)”
He says the reason why he joined the Barefoot Runners Society was “to socialize with barefoot runners, learn from other’s experiences, get some tips, give some tips, make some new friends, and have some good conversations, and to realize that my true destiny is to be a crazy kilt-wearing barefoot running hermit living somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. (I haven’t gotten the kilt yet; I figure I’ll probably need to still wear pants while I’m in school, and I don’t want to be horribly uncomfortable in them like I am in shoes now).” [Welcome, Friend!]

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I'll try to be saving myself the whole iron-man, I mostly just want to finish. But then again I'll probably get excited at some point and start going fast. I'll make sure to get some major mileage under my belt so I can pace myself well and deal with all the tiredness.

By the way, Ijust got done with my 10 mile (it was two weeks away when I was asked) and it wasn't too bad. I'll be sure to do a RR, for anyone that cares.
 
Would love to share your rr with the members. If you email it to me, I will put it on the home page. Thanks. TJ
 
I personally don't know anyone that I am friends with that has done an Ironman or half Ironman. That would be a great accomplishment especially at your age, go for it man! Running frees the mind, and doing it barefoot is a bonus!