My first barefoot full marathon.

BarefootDevilDog

Chapter Presidents
May 16, 2013
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New Hampshire
This Sunday I'll be running my first barefoot full marathon. My furthest barefoot training run to date was 20 miles and I have run shorter distances many times. As for official races, I've got about a half a dozen barefoot half marathon under my belt but this will be my first full 26.2 barefoot miles. Wish me luck and I'll be back here with a post race recap ASAP :)
 
GOOD LUCK!!!!
 
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Good luck and have fun. Like Chris said, "Keep smiling!"
 
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Good luck and have fun!
 
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Ok. I'll post a more complete race recap tomorrow or the day after. Right now I need to get some sleep. However, I wanted to drop a quick line to say that the marathon was awesome. Not as fast as I would have liked, but I think I learned a few lessons to help me improve for the next one. My feet feel great and I'm looking forward to running my next marathon. Thanks again everyone!
 
Marathon recap: Firstly, the race course was beautiful and you couldn't have asked for nicer weather. The Clarence Demar Marathon starts in Gilsum and ends in Keene, NH. Lockers and showers were available for runners before and after the race at the Keene State College gymnasium. I locked up my bag and caught a shuttle bus from the school to the start. There was a bag drop located near the start so I brought a small bag with me for the flip flops and hooded sweatshirt I wore prior to the race. At that point it was about 40°F. Once I dropped off my bag I headed for the start line, a short 10 minute walk away. The race start was delayed a few minutes to allow all the runners to assemble, but not so long that anyone started to complain. Once the race started I settled in to a quick (for me) 10 min/mile pace and everything was going well. During the first 10 miles I had my only foot related issue, cold. Most of the course passed through heavily wooded areas and limited sunlight filtered through the leaves. Awesome conditions for the rest of my body, but my toes weren't too happy with the cold, damp pavement. I experienced some sharp, stabbing pain that subsided once the sun rose, the air temperature started going up, and the course made it's way into less shaded areas. Aside from that cold surface induced discomfort, my feet felt great the rest of the race and in the days since.

So what went wrong? Well nothing really, but I did have some other issues that affected my overall finish time. I failed to realize just how much fuel I was going to need. Dehydration wasn't an issue. Water and gatorade were available in abundance at multiple stops (16 in total, I think), well staffed with volunteers, but no food. I normally don't bother eating anything during a half marathon, so I didn't think.it would be a huge issue. I packed a few GU packets in my fuel belt with the plan to eat one every four miles. Right there I made two big errors. I underestimate how much fuel I would need, and I should have spaced it's consumption based on time, not distance. Rather than eating every 4 miles, I should have eaten every 30 or 40 minutes. The result was that I ran out of gas. Although I started out great, with a nice even pace that I thought I could maintain, by the 12-13 mile point, I was already slowing down. At that point I should have at least eaten a GU, but I decided to stick to my plan and wait until mile 16. BIG MISTAKE. Mile 14 was the I established a calorie deficit. I got behind the ball and never caught back up. The rest of the race went smoothly enough, but at an ever decreasing pace. My feet felt great, so did my lungs, my legs weren't even all that sore. I just could not will myself to move any faster. I didn't have the energy. Then at mile 20 I realized I didn't even have enough GU to stick with my every 4 mile plan. (Apparently the rest of the packets had ended up in the bottom of my bag back at the school) The last 6.2 I didn't even have that so it was just slow and steady as the tortoise all the way to the finish. I had some tightening in my hips towards the end, but I finished smiling.

My finish time of 6:02 was certainly slower than I intended, but I really feel like I know where I need to make changes to see that improve. For my first barefoot full marathon it was a great learning experience and I've already signed up for my next one.
 
That's awesome, that you struggled, finished, and want to do more! Congrats!
 
Any completed race is something to be proud of, as are all barefoot runs, especially barefoot races, and of course any completed marathon regardless of time or choice of footwear.
A barefoot marathon finish is awesome in the true meaning of the word sense,
time means NOTHING!
 
CONGRATS!!! Thanks so much for sharing your story and experience - it is s helpful and inspirational. It is also inspirational that, as Barefoot TJ said, you struggled and you want to do more. I've signed up for my first marathon ever, which I will do barefoot, in February (Surf City). Ever since I signed up a month or two ago I've been Googling "first barefoot marathon" and just soaking up these sort of accounts. I'm still experimenting with proper fueling as well since I haven't yet run more than 18 miles (for which I inadequately fueled, I think...). Anyway, THANK YOU and huge congratulations again!!
 
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Nice Job on finishing. That's what it is all about. I made the same mistake in mine with too much excitement and race environment to remember fuel and electrolytes early on. Felt badly for months after about my time and now I realize it's not a big deal. You did a BF marathon, how many can say that? Now you know what to do for the next one. Congrats.
 
Good job! 40 is borderline for me depending on other factors. I have done shorter races at that temp and my feet warm up after a mile or so but not sure if they would at marathon pace. I am not sure about the fueling, but I have always heard that you can go 2 hours without fuel so I never take anything before 1:45 but I may be making a wrong assumption about what that means.
 
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I am not sure about the fueling, but I have always heard that you can go 2 hours without fuel so I never take anything before 1:45.
Sounds about right. I have never needed any fuel on the runs under 2 hours, half marathons included.

BarefootDevilDog, big congrats on the barefoot marathon! I still don't have enough courage to go for it even after three years of running. One day...:rolleyes:
 
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