Just Don't Want to Train in Shoes

Barefoot Fresca

Barefooters
Oct 1, 2010
42
11
8
Hi, I'm someone who hasn't posted for a long time. Nice to come back and say hello to you all.

This seems like a babyish problem, but I just don't want to train in shoes at all.

I started running barefoot three years ago and I have not used shoes yet. I put on some Vibrams to run in the snow a couple of times that first year but hated doing it. I used a pair of Merrell pace gloves without having trained in them to do the first mile of the Disney 5K last January, but didn't really like having them on.

So, now I'm training to run the Disney 1/2 marathon this January. For six weeks I was building a nice 5K base, and now that I've done that I'm building a long run day. I had always assumed that once I got to running longer distances I would have to use some kind of minimal shoe for some of the time. But now that I'm starting to go a little further, I don't want to use any kind of footwear.

After thinking about those pace gloves that I have, I decided that maybe I wasn't a minimal-shoe-personality type and maybe I'm a huracha person. But hurachas intimidated me because I've heard about how tricky the lacing is.

In the middle of this dilemma, someone introduced me to Unshoes. They looked appealing and the lacing seemed to be easier, so I ordered a pair. They came in the mail yesterday.

Here is what I WANT to do. I want to run the Disney 1/2 completely barefoot. BUT, if I run into some unexpected unmanageable terrain that I can't handle, I'm going to need to have a shoe option to slip into. I've decided I like the idea of that shoe being this Unshoe. However, my final dilemma is that I just don't want to train in the Unshoe.

But it would be kind of dumb not to train in the Unshoe.

This is such a stupid problem. I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel like the little kid who just doesn't want to put her shoes on again.
 
My guess would be that the Disney race would be on all paved roads? I'm sure someone here can confirm. If you are at the point where you can run the distance barefoot, I wouldn't sweat it. Leave the shoes home and run your race.
 
Hi Fresca, If you want to run the 1/2 completely BF go for it!
I know it's very doable and it's very natural to be uncomfortable of the unkown.
Find yourself some rough terrain and attack it consistently that way you'll be prepared for whatever Disney hands to you. Show Disney what you're made of!!
 
Thank you, Ramzev and Dama. It's good to hear your advice and I'm happy to hear that I should just try to do it barefoot.

Yes, Barefoot Dama, it is fear of the unknown. I had trouble in the Epcot parking lot a couple of years ago, but my feet are much tougher now. I'm able to walk/run on the cobblestone sidewalks around my house without the pain that it used to give me. My usual running route, in an urban setting, is pretty smooth sidewalk tile, but I found a section that is kind of rough pitted asphalt and I've been adding more and more of that section into my runs.

I'm one of those Morton toe people who have a little trouble running on asphalt and I just don't know the texture of the roads at Disney. I read one race report here that said it was barefoot friendly, but that person may have been a better barefoot asphalt runner than I am.

So far I've made a gradual increase to about a mile of the rough asphalt. Think I'll just keep increasing that as I go along. So great to come back here to this forum and get a little moral support!
 
Welcome back, Fresca! Why not set aside a few minutes during each of your training runs to run in the Unshoes? I don't see a big deal there. Carry the shoes on a belt when you run the half at Disney. I've read others reports about some of the pavement being really messed up, and they had trouble with it. Good luck! You can do this.
 
I thought all the roads in Disney were paved with taffy and fairy dust. no?
 
Hi, TJ! I was planning all along to do just as you suggested, spend a little time during my training runs wearing the Unshoes. Just that now that I have them and the time is here to do that, I just don't want to put them on, lol!

Barefoot Gentile, thanks for weighing in. Hard to find gritty roads where I live, but I shall try!

JosephTree, I'm so embarrassed that I exposed my overthinking for all the world to see!
 
JosephTree, I'm so embarrassed that I exposed my overthinking for all the world to see!

I'm a Scorpio. If I didn't overthink things, I probably wouldn't be thinking at all. Don't sweat exposing it. Some of us understand, and truly sympathize :)

I don't recall if the Disney run you're doing is at the California or Florida park, but if it's CA, there's a race report from someone who ran it posted on the home page here (you'll have to scroll down to find it), and, as I recall, he gave a pretty good description of the road conditions you'll encounter.

Good luck. I bet you'll do fine. Less thinking, more running!
 
Hey Fresca
It sounds like you are doing all the right things. I have just carried my Vivobarefoot shoes all the way round my run this morning. I couldn't face putting them on. I recently ran a 6 mile race with another barefooter. I carried shoes in my waistband and he didn't. He was just further along the line and had done it before. Racing barefoot was new to me. Next time I won't bother, just needed to try it out and survive. Have fun. If you don't practice in the Unshoes, what is the worst that can happen. You will probably be able to just take them off again after giving your soles a bit of respite. I bet you end up not needing them.
 
ThomDavid, I should have put a little winky-face (;)) next to my comment about being embarrassed for exposing my over-thinking. I write a whole blog that consists of me mostly of exposing my over-thinking for all the world to see, lol!!

I scoured this forum and also the entire Internet and could only find two write-ups from running the Disney half -- one of them from Calif and one from FLA. I'm doing the FLA one. The write-up I saw described the course as being "barefoot friendly." I've looked at the map of the racecourse, and I'm quite familiar with the routes depicted on the WDW map because we have stayed there so often, and there are long stretches of asphalt (5-mile stretches) between the theme parks. The race begins (and ends) in the Epcot parking lot. I happen to know that parking lot was really rough on my feet a couple of years ago. It took me a really long time to run a mile on that parking lot texture. I've asked my sisters, who have run this particular race many times, but since they have shoes on, they did not really notice the texture of the roads.

barefootbeginner, When I first went out barefoot running (not races, just regular old out running during the week), I always carried a pair of flip flops with me in case "something" happened. It turns out that I never needed them. It was really annoying to have them tucked in my belt, but I would have these scary visions of being out there a mile away from home, stranded with sore feet, unable to get back....

The very funny thing about this vision is that I live in an urban area and run along a bus route that would drop me right back at my front door, practically, with lots of cars going by, little delis, and, of course, I had my cell phone with me so I could just call a cab, lol! That shows what a nervous Nellie I am. In fact, one wonders how I ever became a barefoot runner at all with this personality. I sit at home reading about all these people running barefoot through the desert, in the mountains, through forests, over rock and glen, and I dream about being back to nature, but then I head out for my very cushy barefoot run out on these nice smooth terra cotta tiles that line the Boulevard off which I live.

So, anyway, when I read that a course is pretty barefoot friendly, I'm not sure if that applies to me or not, since I have such cushy barefoot running conditions in my life.
 
I almost always carry my Moc3s, but I might be more out in the country than some. I have just often enough found myself in areas where I couldn't tell what was on the ground (aka running with dear hubby) or have gotten injuries that I needed to stop the bleeding. But the Moc3s are so light and flexible. I stuff them in a hip bag. My water bottles weigh more.