Today was our first BF/Minimalist race. I ran in my Invisible shoe Huaraches as did my son. My wife Emma ran BF. This event is a 1 mile run over a bridge which is part of our local August long weekend festivities. We have all run the race before but this was not only the first time for us running BF/Minimalist but the first such race for us all.
We chose this race as it is relatively short, albiet with a significant hill as it is over a bridge. Our thinking is that it would give us a chance to assess our progress to forefoot running with minimal risk of delving too far into TMTS. I say minimal as we are all a 'tad' competitive and it was, for me at least a challenge to run with my head and not my heart.
Prior to the race we all had a number of conversations about our footwear or lack therof. Being Canadian all of these conversations were of a positive or at least an inquisitive nature. Not one person was overtly negative.
That said there were plenty of LOOKS. I am sure everyone knows the kind. Still it is a 'free' country, at least according to the constitution... I really don't care who looks so long as they also don't get into my face. It is not that I am afraid of confrontation, as an out Dyke I have had to come to grips with confrontation as a cost of my true existance.
It is just that I really don't want to waste the time trying to educate the closed minded. Such people will be dragged along with the masses when forefoot running gets 'discovered / accepted' as the norm. Until then I really don't have time for such individuals. To each their own eh.
As for the race it was a great experience. We all had a good day with my son and I posting times near our previous shod times and Emma having a PB for this event.
I also noticed that my time was the same as my race number, syncronicity I guess. I also noticed that my running today was more tuned in if you will. That is I was more involved in the run rather than just running from the perspecitve of the stopwatch. This meant that I started slower than usual, listened to my body more, really felt my environment and was more in the moment. Ironically enougth I still ended up with a pretty good time so win - win.
At the end of the day we have all been energized by this race experience and are looking forward to the next steps in our transition to forefoot running.
Jenn
PS - The pic is of my wife and son....
We chose this race as it is relatively short, albiet with a significant hill as it is over a bridge. Our thinking is that it would give us a chance to assess our progress to forefoot running with minimal risk of delving too far into TMTS. I say minimal as we are all a 'tad' competitive and it was, for me at least a challenge to run with my head and not my heart.
Prior to the race we all had a number of conversations about our footwear or lack therof. Being Canadian all of these conversations were of a positive or at least an inquisitive nature. Not one person was overtly negative.
That said there were plenty of LOOKS. I am sure everyone knows the kind. Still it is a 'free' country, at least according to the constitution... I really don't care who looks so long as they also don't get into my face. It is not that I am afraid of confrontation, as an out Dyke I have had to come to grips with confrontation as a cost of my true existance.
It is just that I really don't want to waste the time trying to educate the closed minded. Such people will be dragged along with the masses when forefoot running gets 'discovered / accepted' as the norm. Until then I really don't have time for such individuals. To each their own eh.
As for the race it was a great experience. We all had a good day with my son and I posting times near our previous shod times and Emma having a PB for this event.
I also noticed that my time was the same as my race number, syncronicity I guess. I also noticed that my running today was more tuned in if you will. That is I was more involved in the run rather than just running from the perspecitve of the stopwatch. This meant that I started slower than usual, listened to my body more, really felt my environment and was more in the moment. Ironically enougth I still ended up with a pretty good time so win - win.
At the end of the day we have all been energized by this race experience and are looking forward to the next steps in our transition to forefoot running.
Jenn
PS - The pic is of my wife and son....
