Well, hi there everyone.
Well, hi there everyone. Just thought I'd add a post about how the Disney 5K went (Buzz and Woody's Best Friends 5K).
I wore my Barefoot Runner's Society T-shirt to the race and Warren's wife saw it. She told Warren and he came looking for me. We got to chat before the race and that was cool. I ran the 5K barefoot and it was all good but I had a really crummy time (not that it really mattered). One of the big problems was the Epcot parking lot was very painful and I had to run about the first mile on it. It was this really sharp, pointy nubby stuff. I thought of stopping to put my Vibrams on for that part, but once I was going along, I decided to just see it through.
The up side was that it felt REALLY good to get on the smooth pavements of World Showcase in Epcot.
I was planning to stop and take pictures with all the characters, but the slow pace I had in the beginning made me decide to just keep running. The original race instructions had said you had to maintain a 16-minute-mile pace or you'd be pulled out of the race. However, I don't believe they enforced that. But I didn't know that when I was there.
If I subtract getting majorly slowed down by the pitted sharp asphalt, and stopping for 5 minutes to use the rest-room in the second mile, I calculate I was running about a 15 min/mile pace.
My parents and sister who were spectating the race and watching specifically for me say that they did not see any other barefoot runners. So, it is possible that I may have been the only one running that race barefoot.
All in all it was a great experience. If I did it next year, I would definitely think about covering my feet for that bad parking lot asphalt.
I wrote about the race and included pictures (including a picture of Warren and picturs of the sharp nubby parking lot) at my blog, Barefoot Fresca (http://www.barefootfresca.blogspot.com) in case you want to know more.