Longest Barefoot run on concrete and blacktop!

Today I set out without a distance in my for my run. My goal was to work on form and without caring about speed or distance. I set out and I have a love hate relationship with the first 1/4 mile and last 1/4 mile of every run. It's the stretch that has trees on both sides of sidewalk and if there's any wind then there is a ton of branches, pinecones, pine needles, etc. all over which you cannot avoid. Somehow there's even gravel in this stretch, not sure where it comes from as there are no gravel roads anywhere remotely close.

Anyhow this first little bit really makes me focus on form and sets me up for a pretty good run the rest of the way usually. I get down the hill which is about a mile long and feel pretty good so I decide to keep going on a route that I haven't run in months. I forgot about a stretch maybe 200 yards long of the most horrible blacktop. Its very similar to a chip seal only slightly more tar, for coloring sake I think.

I get through this by bending my knees a little more and really concentrating on relaxing and lifting feet. This was the best I have ever handled this stretch so I am pretty pleased with myself. By now I've noticed that one of my toes on my right foot curles toward the ground more than the other toes, so I'm working on try to lift the toes upon landing to help keep it from blistering, and so far it's working. At a mile and a half I'm starting to get nervous about distance to I decide to turn around and head back.

At arout two miles the road goes up pretty sharply and so I really have to work to push the stroller up the hill without pushing off with my feet. I get past the steep section and now it's a pretty slow and gradual hill the rest of the way up and am able to increase my speed some while keeping good form.

When I get to the last 1/4 mile I decide to kick it up a few notches to finish real strong. I notice to my right a car that has started to pull out at an intersection and then just stop, in the middle of the intersection, jaw in his lap, staring at me as I fly by. He was so fixated on looking at me, he didn't notice that he was about to get t-boned from both sides. Luckily the oncoming traffic just stopped and honked at him, which finally got him moving.

I finished up my run and was pleasantly surprised to see that I had run 3.05 miles at an 11:57 pace. Now I haven't hooked my Garmin up to my computer yet to see my actual moving pace, so this pace is counting my stops for stop lights, stopping to fix the stroller once, stopping to put my sons socks back on him, twice, plus stopping for traffic at uncontrolled intersections.

I felt really good today, minus a hole that I wore in that one toe during the last half mile. I think my toe got tired and it got really hard to keep that toe up upon landing. I will have to work on that in the future. Anyway, I was just really happy to be able to run with no other problems other than the toe and wanted to share. Sorry for the length of this.
 
Making progress, Nick! 

Making progress, Nick! Congrats!
 
Sweet!  And pushing a

Sweet! And pushing a stroller! That's awesome! I have the same problem with my toes when I'm running high, but then again...I've never run with a stroller!!!



-Jonny
 
Good job. I love the guy in

Good job. I love the guy in the car. I have one of those toes too. I've decide it's just going to have to get used to it. Time for that toe to man up and grow a callus.
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Impressive, can't say I have

Impressive, can't say I have had to push a stroller, I have played sled dog in the winter with my 4 year old on the back. That was a lot of fun and a good workout as well. But pushing a stroller up a hill, hmmmm I just need to find a hill and a kid young enough to push in a stroller and I think I will give that a try. ;-)
 
Thanks everyone!  I am so

Thanks everyone! I am so happy to know that I coud go and run a 5k if I wanted. Can't wait till that toe gets stronger or callused. Gonna have to run in the huaraches tomorrow. It's a nasty hole in the tip of the toe.
 
Time for that toe to man up

Time for that toe to man up and grow a callus.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
 
So thanks to that toe having

So thanks to that toe having a huge hole in the tip of it, I decided to run in my huaraches today. Ran just a short 1.75 mile run. Ran the first half very slow to warm up the legs and then took off. I ran the next mile in 8:59 which, while not the fastest I've ever run, it is the second fastest time I've run since finding running again 6 months ago. I am pretty stoked but I only allowed myself to run that fast because of the huaraches.

I am so glad that I did not run barefoot today. My toe was absolutely killing me by the end of the run. More throbbing from blood flow I think than impact. I doubt I would have made it half a mile barefoot.
 
Just ran 4.13 miles

Just ran 4.13 miles completely barefoot. Amazingly the hole in the tip of my one toe did not get worse and didn't really bother me. I started with a bandaid on it but it was raining so hard that before I was even half a mile it was flapping on my toe so I had to just rip it off. Bandaid, not the toe. Ran slow and just worked on form. It was a lot of fun to splash around in the big puddles too. Other runners that I saw on my route actually looked jealous as I laughed and splashed while running. It really is freeing to not have to worry about getting shoes wet.

This is the longest route I will run in the next month or two. It was one of my normal routes prior to my calf injury. The last mile or so I really noticed my right foot making a slapping noise. It took a while but I figured out what I was doing wrong and I also figured out why my left foot has more problems on the outside edge of it than my right. I was landing more on the outside edge with my left foot. Normally with my right foot I land more towards the inside of my foot, towards the big toe area. As I got tired today, I started landing more flat which was causing that slapping sound. Took a ton of concentration to get to the end without slapping my foot.

I also was not really able to sprint my finish like normal, just kind of picked up speed. My last mile was all uphill and just burned me out so I was barely able to speed up for the last 1/4 of a mile or so, went from 12 min/mile pace to maybe a 10-11 min/mile pace.
 
Nice run! Glad to hear you

Nice run! Glad to hear you didn't rip your toe off... had me worried there. :)



Landing on the inside ball of my foot first was one of the best improvements I made after my first month. I too was landing forefoot but on the outside edge and rolling in. Barefoot Angie Bee and her hubby explained to me that the inside ball (I'm sure they gave a technical name but can't remember it) is the strongest shock absorbing place to land and with a bit of focus it's become quite natural to me now.

Glad to hear you're progressing so well!
 
Sounds like an awesome run

Sounds like an awesome run and a real learning experience.
 
It really was a good run but

It really was a good run but now my legs are a little sore. It's a good sore though, like from a good workout. Depending how I feel tomorrow I may just rest, although I had a short 2 miler planned. Sometimes a nice little run is just what you need to feel better. ajw, it's funny but my right foot has always landed correctly and I thought I was landing the same way on the left, but I've always had more tenderness on the outside edge of my left foot. It was nice to finally figure out why. Really was a good and refreshing run and was a lot of fun playing in the puddles. I also found out today that some concrete can be slick when wet. I did not know that prior to today. Some of the patches of real nice and smooth concrete I found today got slick a bit so I really had to watch myself on it.