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  1. Visions Of Asia

    Ran the Hong Kong half-marathon barefoot... and achieved a personal best!

    Ran the Hong Kong half-marathon barefoot... and achieved a personal best! By Visions Of Asia Hello guys. Sorry for not having been much around, but I have basically been locked up in 60 km² for two years because of the very stringent Covid quarantine rules in Hong Kong (21 days in a hotel if...
  2. Visions Of Asia

    Barefoot trail running during the pandemic

    Barefoot trail running during the pandemic By Visions of Asia Long time no see... Sorry guys, 2020 has been a disastrous year in terms of physical fitness for me. Whereas, during 2019, I had grown my barefoot fitness to be able to run a semi-marathon, the constraints in terms of public health...
  3. Visions Of Asia

    Barefoot hike on Mount Takao in Japan

    After running my first 21 k, back in November, I went on to travel to Japan to enjoy the fall colors and the lovely autumn season. And as usual, I managed to insert a couple of barefoot hikes therein. The first one was in Tokyo, on Takao-san (or Mount Takao). Japanese warmly supportive of...
  4. Visions Of Asia

    Two years barefoot running... And my first half-marathon!

    So, last November marked two years since I first started barefoot running... And it was also the occasion of completing my first half-marathon. I did complete in the ridiculous time of 2h45, but part of that misperformance was also due to the course being extremely hilly and demanding. Anyway, I...
  5. Visions Of Asia

    A Spartan Race, the Spartan way!

    I mentioned that in a previous post, on the mud run... But eventually, I managed to do a full Spartan sprint race barefoot. I had some apprehensions as the organizers did not recommend running barefoot, but ultimately, they couldn't care less. However, the terrain was not really...
  6. Visions Of Asia

    And finally did the Lion's rock hike barefoot!

    The Lion's rock is a very strong symbol for all hongkongese, as it expresses their strong will and their desire to resist pressure (and God knows they are facing a lot of pressure from China these days!). It was somehow strange, but I never tackled this pretty easy hike until now. Probably...
  7. Visions Of Asia

    A barefoot mud run

    So finally, after hiking, running 10k's, etc, I also started mud runs. Last Sunday, I took to what might be deemed a "soft" version of a Spartan run, with very easy obstacles, not too much mud and a short trail run of 6 kms. Overall, no big difference with running/hiking barefoot, but much...
  8. Visions Of Asia

    Barefoot, on a mountain during a thunderstorm...

    Last Saturday, we took on to a barefoot hike with my new friend, Yuan (the barefoot ultra-trail runner), in the Ma On Shan country park. Part hiking, part rock scrambling, this barefoot hike was complicated by the very humid conditions of the trail due to some rain the day before. But this was...
  9. Visions Of Asia

    Two 10 kms races

    Two 10 kms races By Visions of Asia I lack a bit of time to always write about my barefoot activities (I am very late for reporting on my trip to Korea on my own blog), but January saw an uptick with barefoot running. In fact, I participated in two barefoot races of 10 K each. While the first...
  10. Visions Of Asia

    Meeting another barefoot trail runner...

    So, it seemed for quite some time that I was the only barefoot runner in Hong Kong. Now I know that is not true any longer. On one of our hikes through the Maclehose trail, we can across Yuan, a barefoot trail runner since 4 years already. The nice thing being that he is even an ultra runner...
  11. Visions Of Asia

    Hiking barefoot above the sea of clouds: my climb on Lantau Peak

    Lantau peak is the second highest mountain of Hong Kong, culminating at 934 m (ok, peanuts for any normal mountaineer, but Hongkongers take what they find...). My first hike there was shod and at night, and not quite a good experience as we got drenched by showers in the early morning. This...
  12. Visions Of Asia

    First 10K barefoot race!

    First 10K barefoot race! By Visions of Asia So, I bit the bullet, and decided to register myself for a real race barefoot (yeah, obviously not trying to compete with the guys who swallowed 10 k in 1/2 hr). The idea was to measure myself in a competitive environment and with the need to pace...
  13. Visions Of Asia

    Barefooting above the abyss: back to suicide cliff

    Roughly one year ago, I decided to start my barefoot hiking life with a strong target: suicide cliff in Hong Kong. Based on Kowloon peak, this climb is one of the most demanding physically, because of the steep incline and the rock scramble it demands. One year later, I returned to suicide...
  14. Visions Of Asia

    Hiking the tallest mountain in Hong Kong just before a typhoon

    In terms of barefoot hiking, not much of a feat, as the whole path is paved from the bottom to the top. However, in the continuation of my exploration of Hong Kong and other places barefoot, this allowed me to take some spectacular photo just before a monstrous typhoon slammed into Hong Kong...
  15. Visions Of Asia

    Barefoot hiking on a volcano

    In the series "barefooting across the world", this time, I climbed (partly) and went down (fully) the Taal Volcano, a caldera located near Manila in the Philippines. A lot of astonishment from local Filipinos who climb the volcano to guide tourists every day... in flip-flops! Magnificent views...
  16. Visions Of Asia

    More group runs... Where barefooting awakens interest!

    So, 4th barefoot run with the phone company's events. This time, while taking the forest shortcut from my home to the sports ground, I encountered (or rather heard) two wild boars. A bit concerned as they grunted upon seeing me, but as I continued on my path, they left me alone. Unfortunately...
  17. Visions Of Asia

    Barefoot hike on Suicide Cliff in Hong Kong

    Those who follow the r/BarefootHiking probably read already about this, but "suicide cliff" is a rocky springboard hanging on one of the highest mountains of Hong Kong. The place became famous after featuring in the "National Geographic". I climbed the mountain several times shod, before one day...
  18. Visions Of Asia

    Second group run barefoot... and my friend starts barefooting too!

    So, second “paced run” with that phone company of mine. This time, the terrain was flat. My friend who the previous race shod, decided to give barefoot a try and ran (in his first attempt) all the three kilometres without any issue. Edit: I went to the race and came back barefoot. Just as much...
  19. Visions Of Asia

    First barefoot "race"

    Yes, "race", because after all, it was just a 3kms paced race, mainly geared to promote a given smartwatch of a famous US phone maker. I paced myself yesterday while training at 16.58 min over the distance, this evening, we just took plain half an hour with stops every kilometer or so! Despite...
  20. Visions Of Asia

    Barefoot in Hong Kong

    Hello there. New member of IBRD after some issues with registering (VPN...). I got started on barefoot running and hiking after struggling to resume physical activity after an ACL operation. Since then, I have been hiking and running barefoot in Hong Kong, but also other cities such as...