First barefoot 5K

First Barefoot 5K
By Scratch


It wasn’t until Thursday this last week that I decided to put the money in for a 5K race being held today. I went in with a goal of running it something above easy, probably what might be around 10K to 10 mile race pace. It’s hard to say some, because I haven’t raced for a few years. The big thing was I just wanted to get reacquainted with the race atmosphere and environment, and that would help me out in 4 weeks when I run what will be a 5K somewhat harder than this. Practice, I guess.

First, the numbers. Old PR was 27:08 set back in April 2008, after I had been running for a year. I ran that about as hard as I could. A friendly guy tried to pull me along at the end, but I had nothing more to give that day.

Today — first mile split of 8:30.01, running just a tick above easy. I wasn’t breathing hard, could have said a sentence pretty easy. Second mile of 9:17.29, had to work a bit harder, bit more uphill than down. Third mile came in at 8:29.99. Final tenth of a mile I kicked hard and closed it out in 45.21 seconds. So a total time of 27:02.5. Damn, just missed going sub 27.

The first mile was the usual 5K clutter of people who start up too close to the front. I had to weave around some people, but I also had some people pass me who I never caught up to and others who I caught up to later. Overheard a lot of “He’s got no shoes!” Guess they were talking about me, I was the only barefooter or obvious minshoe out there. I just tried to relax and enjoy myself and smile at the course volunteers. They deserve a smile for being out there and helping to keep us on course. One point during the long uphill of the second mile I saw a young volunteer with her hands tucked into her pockets. I smiled and said, “Cold hands?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “Cold feet?” she asked.

“No, they’re fine.”

On that uphill I had my first encounter with stepping on some glass. It didn’t puncture.

At the turnaround point and the water station, I heard the volunteers notice my bare feet. One yelled, “That’s hardcore!” I said, “Thank you.”

I just tried to stay relaxed during the 3rd mile and prepare myself to close strong. At around a third of a mile to go, another runner in shoes stomped by me and I thought to myself, “Ahh, there’s my prey!” I tagged onto him and followed a few yards behind and waited for the 3 mile marker. He was breathing hard, I was still breathing pretty easy.

Finally, I see 3 in chalk on the asphalt path. Time to go! I accelerate and blow by the young guy who had passed me and then began hunting down another young kid in front of me. Maybe that’s kind of terrible, but I wanted to pass people! So I did and kept trucking along until I crossed the finish mats and grinned a big shit-eating grin because I was fairly sure I had PRed. As I walked up the chute and after a volunteer collected the bib tear-off, a guy with a camera came up and said, “I’ve got to get a picture!” So I stood there with the bottle of water I had been given and he took it. It won’t be an exciting running pic, but I’m hoping maybe that a good one that was taken of me by a woman out on the course will be posted to the race results website.

There’s a lot more to say, but I want to save it for the postmortem of the goal 5K in 4 weeks' time. But hey, today was a lot of fun, a good solid run and I feel pretty happy about setting a 5K PR after 8 weeks of getting back into running following a 3 year break.

You can also read this race report at my barefoot blog, Becoming Shoeless.

http://becomingshoeless.wordpress.com/
 
Bonege! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lambda and Scratch
Dankon!

Kiel ni bezonas pli da nudpiedaj kurantoj, ankaŭ ni bezonas pli da Esperantistoj. Estus mirinda se ĉiuj homoj povus kuri nudpiede kaj paroli Esperante, kaj do reciprokan grundon ni ĉiuj havus inter tero kaj lingvo.

Mi neniam imagis ke estus aliaj esperantistoj ĉi tie, kvankam mi ne vere devas nomi min kiel esperantisto -- povas mi legi gin tre bone kaj aŭskulti bone, sed mi ne praktikis multe skribi kaj paroli. Pardonpetu miajn erarojn.

Thank you!

Like we need more barefoot runners, we also need more Esperanto speakers. It would be wonderful if every person could run barefoot and speak Esperanto, and so we would all have common ground between earth and language.

I never imagined that there would be other Esperanto speakers here, although I truly shouldn't call myself one -- I can read it very well and listen well, but I haven't had much practice writing and speaking. Forgive my errors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nisto and Lambda
I just tried to stay relaxed during the 3rd mile and prepare myself to close strong. At around a third of a mile to go, another runner in shoes stomped by me and I thought to myself, “Ahh, there’s my prey!” I tagged onto him and followed a few yards behind and waited
I do this and I have had people admit to me after the race they've done it with me, though for whatever reason the people who do it to me say they are trying to inspire themselves and they generally can't keep up near the end. Maybe the ones who pass me don't admit it. :)