After being at this barefoot thing for almost a year now, I was itching to do a race of some sort. I settled on the Mt. Ascutney Hill Climb, for a few reasons:
My 21 year old daughter was with me to run it also, and had her own case of nerves (shod, however). So between the two of us we had fun worrying. And my wife decided to run too at the last minute. She had done it before and laughed at our unease.
To get to the point, the race was terrific. I never worked so hard, or had so much fun, running a race. I did respectably well (as did wife and daughter). In fact, I was delighted with my performance.
This was my first race in many years. I quit them when I was around 42, and felt I was getting slower (I was). I am 52 now. I can't wait to do another one of these. Age is much less of a handicap in a hill climb, it seems. Speed is not a big factor - it is all strength and endurance. The top runners were almost all over 30, and folks in their 60's did very well. I know I can shave minutes off my time with a little preperation. Next year!
The pavement turned out to be quite good. A little rough towards the top, but not a problem. My feet felt great. The race really is all up hill, so short steps were in order, and the landings were soft.
Just before the start, a barefoot guy from Massachusetts came up to me. That was a great sight to behold. He finished well, also. Several people expressed interest in the bare foot thing afterwards. There were a lot of minimalist shoe-wearers - maybe that is normal at races these days.
The whole thing was a great boost to my confidence. Then a couple of days later I was humbled again by a simple trail run. I am trying to do more of those. I have the pavement running down pretty well. Maybe now I can get the hang of running on sticks, roots, and rocks.
- All Pavement
- The hill climb would be slow and so not overly tough on my feet
- Close to home
My 21 year old daughter was with me to run it also, and had her own case of nerves (shod, however). So between the two of us we had fun worrying. And my wife decided to run too at the last minute. She had done it before and laughed at our unease.
To get to the point, the race was terrific. I never worked so hard, or had so much fun, running a race. I did respectably well (as did wife and daughter). In fact, I was delighted with my performance.
This was my first race in many years. I quit them when I was around 42, and felt I was getting slower (I was). I am 52 now. I can't wait to do another one of these. Age is much less of a handicap in a hill climb, it seems. Speed is not a big factor - it is all strength and endurance. The top runners were almost all over 30, and folks in their 60's did very well. I know I can shave minutes off my time with a little preperation. Next year!
The pavement turned out to be quite good. A little rough towards the top, but not a problem. My feet felt great. The race really is all up hill, so short steps were in order, and the landings were soft.
Just before the start, a barefoot guy from Massachusetts came up to me. That was a great sight to behold. He finished well, also. Several people expressed interest in the bare foot thing afterwards. There were a lot of minimalist shoe-wearers - maybe that is normal at races these days.
The whole thing was a great boost to my confidence. Then a couple of days later I was humbled again by a simple trail run. I am trying to do more of those. I have the pavement running down pretty well. Maybe now I can get the hang of running on sticks, roots, and rocks.
