Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon 10K & 5K

Laguna Hills Memorial Day10K

By Pablo Miguel


It goes without saying, better late than never….
Here’s my race report (really late race report!!!) for the Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon 10K & 5K race on May 27, 2019.

After a little more than a year of taking on barefoot running, I decided it was time to test myself by entering a race. Since I was already running 5 miles unshod on concrete every Saturday during the prior 2 months, I thought I was ready for a 10K race.

Before registering to the event, I made an inquiry in the California/L.A. chapter and Barefoot Ken Bob was kind enough to reply and gave some advice:
https://www.thebarefootrunners.org/...half-marathon-5k-10k-barefoot-friendly.21878/
I also had the opportunity to meet Barefoot Ken Bob a couple of days before the race and told me a little more about the race:
https://www.thebarefootrunners.org/threads/filming-barefoot-running-play-fun-shop.21872/

On race day, I decided to take my Xero Z-Treks with me in case I ended up needing a plan B.
I arrived early, weather was great for running 13C/55F. I inspected the asphalt at the start area, unfortunately it was in bad shape, very weathered and worn, I tried walking and trotting on it several times and realized I wasn't ready to run 10K on that surface, so much to my distress I decided on going with plan B, my Z-treks…
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Once the race started, after approximately 1K we entered a residential area that had nice smooth asphalt, so I moved to the side of the road, took my sandals off and continued unshod…I thought what the heck, if I need to use them I’ll put them on again.
The feeling of total freedom and the excitement was so good!!! I thought...I’ll stay unshod regardless of the condition of the road, that’s what I came here for!
For the next 5K the asphalt was in good condition, I ran over the white division lines of the road whenever possible (smoother surface); that stretch was slightly downhill so it was fairly easy.

At around 6.5K we left the road and entered a bike trail that initially was horrible, the asphalt was so bad I was barely able to walk, I had to step out of the trail and walk on its side through slippery mud for about 150 mts, almost fell a couple of times, then the trail got better and I was able to run again.
There were a couple of slippery underpasses (as Barefoot Ken Bob wisely pointed out) but I fared well. I even got a nice couple of pictures from the race photographer…
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A little after the 8K mark we turned around and came back on the same trail, after the 9K we left the trail and arrived again to the horrible asphalt but this time it was a much longer stretch maybe 600 mts, I slowed down considerably but started to pick up the pace when I realized I was close to the finish. Even though it was a bit uphill in the end I finished strong. Great feeling!
There you have it, first 10K race barefoot: 1K with sandals 9K unshod, time 59:39.
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I’m starting to increase my distance unshod, hopefully next year I’ll be able to run a half marathon.

Saludos a todos!
 

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After 3 years of running barefoot, I'm more and more convinced its the best decision on running I've made. Love it!!!
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Congrats on your 10K, Pablo, and thanks for sharing here. I have mirrored your report to the home page.
 
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Congrats! Good plan keeping your options with the sandals. Isn't it great taking them off in the middle of a race like that? I make sure my sandals can easily be slipped on and off just in case there's a point in a race where there's mud or something else awesome to go through unshod. It's just too fun.
 
Congrats! Good plan keeping your options with the sandals. Isn't it great taking them off in the middle of a race like that? I make sure my sandals can easily be slipped on and off just in case there's a point in a race where there's mud or something else awesome to go through unshod. It's just too fun.

Thanks trevise1138.
It had been a while since I ran with sandals or shoes as backup, it did feel good.
You should have seen the face of a couple of runners that saw me take the sandals off and rejoin the race next to them, priceless!
 
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