IBRD - Ann Arbor, Michigan

Smelph

Barefooters
Nov 5, 2010
597
15
18


Cast of Characters (right to left): Troy (Smelph), Amie (Khyricat), Eric (Starbase606), Ken (Jones), Dave (Dmcchesney), Alan (Longboard), Raya (Eric's Daughter – not pictured), Colleen (My wife – not pictured)

Waking up at 4AM on a Sunday morning was just as difficult as it sounds. It was May 1, 2011 and we needed to arrive at the race at 7AM in Ann Arbor, about and hour and forty five minutes east of Kalamazoo, and we had to gather our gear and hit the road. My wife and I got dressed and gathered our things and hit the road at 5:15AM.

It was cloudy but warm and dry all the way across the state until we hit the Ann Arbor city limits, where there was literally a line in the road where the pavement went from dry as a bone to ultraflooded. We would learn later that a thunderstorm had gone through in the morning and basically drenched everything. It was then that I realized I forgot to pack my stick of body glide which I had planned to use on the soles of my feet to keep the moisture at bay. Fortunately it wouldn't be a problem.

We parked about 2-3 blocks from the race and I slipped on my Trail Gloves to keep my feet dry and warm until race time. Nearing the designated meeting place we were passed by a guy on a skateboard with no shoes on who turned out to be Alan While getting registered we met up with Amie and we wandered over to the designated meeting place. It was no time at all before we were joined by Eric and his wife and we moved our operation near the announcers tent for better visibility as a group.



We got set up and were looking good. We mostly hung around and chit-chatted while people milled about preparing for the race. We got many a stare from the “normies” and had a few good conversations with some folks while waiting for the races to start. Dave showed up as well as Raya and a guy I guessed was her boyfriend. By the time the 5k started we had collected 6 Barefooters (myself, Alan, Eric, Dave, Amie and Raya), one in FiveFingers (Raya's boyfriend) and one shod runner (my wife). We also saw several people in minimalist footwear ranging from Terra Planas to Unshoes to more folks with FiveFingers. Sadly I didn't see many of these others at our table, but we did get a few of them to come over and talk.



I had run many miles in wet conditions before, so they weren't too threatening for me, but several of us were hesitant to go completely barefoot due to lack of wet barefoot runs in training. Peer pressure got the best of us all though, and we set off to find out if our forms were good enough to prevent blisters on the wet roads. Dave later added: “I was really nervous too along with Longboard and Jones because as it turns out none of us had run in rain before. This race was also going to be my longest run bare ever! I did 5.9 bare the week of the race so I figured I could do 6.2 no problem. Turns out the body glide did work at keeping my feet in check. As the 5k started, I lathered my feet in body glide (first time ever using the stuff) and grabbed my KSO's and headed towards the start. Deciding I didn't want to seem like a little girl I sprinted back to the table to drop them off before the start.”



Six of us ran in the 5k race, including Eric, Raya and her boyfriend, Alan, Amie and Colleen (she was an honorary Barefooter), and while they were getting to the starting line Ken found the 10k runners (Dave and I) and we chit-chatted for a few minutes before heading to the starting line ourselves (the 10k started 10 minutes after the 5k). We talked to a couple more runners while waiting and it felt great to be among other Barefooters for the start of the race. I'm so used to being more or less the lone sideshow/novelty act at events that this was really refreshing. Our enthusiasm was apparently infectious, as we even inspired a guy who showed up in jeans to jump in as a bandit and run the 5k barefoot.

When the race started Dave took off like a shot and I never saw him again. We would later find out he would finish second in the 18-24 division with a great time of 48:20. His report: “We were all in the back of the pack because we all wanted to take it sort of easy. That turned out the opposite for me. As soon as the race started I started my Garmin and realized that we were moving at walking speeds so I cut through people and quickly hopped on the sidewalk and sprinted to the front of the pack. I kept a
 
Thanks for putting this

Thanks for putting this together... I am posting in a stolen moment at work.. and no pics came through, but I hope its just because of the firewall here... One note- I hope they let you add the picture from the AnnArbor.Com news site because you look great there!

Amie
 
What a terrific report! 

What a terrific report! Thanks!

Cool that they made BF its own medal category! And Congratulations on your win!

And I love the part about the spontaneous Barefooter in jeans.

I can see that you are not only barefoot, but you are also tough enough that you do not need a tent to stay dry!



Thanks for all your efforts and for making IBRD come alive in Ann Arbor!

Cheers

Jamie
 
Looks like a nice turnout. 

Looks like a nice turnout. Thanks!
 
khyricat wrote:Thanks for

khyricat said:
Thanks for putting this together... I am posting in a stolen moment at work.. and no pics came through, but I hope its just because of the firewall here... One note- I hope they let you add the picture from the AnnArbor.Com news site because you look great there!

Amie
they must have photobucket blocked or something. I can see them and Jamie obviously saw them so I know they are there. ;) I hope they let me use that pic too (it was an awesome picture!), but I'm not holding my breath. If I don't hear from them by the end of the day I'll add a link to the picture in the original post. EDIT: I went ahead and added the link because of the sheer awesomeness of the picture. Hopefully I will get permission to use a photo of myself though. ;)
 
definitely firewall.. I love

definitely firewall.. I love the pics.. they came out great.. and I think I'll have to link to your big pic of us all together on another site... where I've been asked about the race and such.. I may just link them to this report...
 
Thanks for putting together

Thanks for putting together the RR.

T.J. remembers me being the new BFrunner in town, what a surprise it was for me that most of this group had been BFrunning less than six months, and most had only taking up running period less than 6 months ago.