Yeah, that whole "asking for permission thing" again.
I didn't ASK the race director of The Burns Park Run in Ann Arbor MI if the runners representing the Michigan chapter of the BRS could run barefoot, I TOLD him that WE have selected their race as the official IBRD Michigan event. So their response was to add that info to their website!
I'll never ask for barefoot permission since it is rarely granted that way.
I did ask once last year, a week before the Woodward Cruise in Shoes 5K. I asked on their FB site just to be funny and give them a heads-up knowing they couldn't possibly deny the barefoot option, which they didn't. BUT......just one month later in the exact same city (Royal Oak MI) Diane and I WERE denied the right to walk barefoot on city streets after the art, food, and music festival associated 5K was over! Won that fight but only for me, still working on blanket barefoot approval for the A,B,&E Labor Day event this year.
