Member Profile of the Week - Mike “Miker” Rives - Will Run For Cheetos

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Member Profile of the WeekMike “Miker” RivesWill Run For CheetosMike “Miker” Rives, 49, is a country-road runner, having lived the past four years in Skiatook, Oklahoma, (somewhere NW of Tulsa) where he lives with his wife Kyle (pronounced Kylie) and their two sons on 40 acres. The property will soon boast its own private barefoot running trails through the woods, built by Mike himself, so that he can run on “clean” trails for which barefoot running has given him a newfound appreciation.He attended the University of Oklahoma and the University of Missouri where he earned a BBA-OU and a MBA-MU. Mike is a busy running his own granite business (he’s fourth generation of a stone business family), sharing in the raising of his sons who are also home-schooled, and minding the family dogs, Zookie, a Lab/Pyrenees mix; Buttercup, a Dutch Shepherd; and Missus, a Dalmatian; plus 4 cats; 3 horses; and 60+ chickens, which he insists is “a 4-H project gone mad!” About the educational process in the Rives home, he says, “Ironically, I sign my dogs up and take them to class but not my kids.” Besides running, hobbies include “camping, hiking, pretty much anything outdoors, though a good football game on TV is worth being inside for. Go Sooners!”Mike has run for 20+ years but only the last 6 consistently. He explains why as follows: “I used to ride a bike a lot, but after marriage, we moved into the country where the roads weren’t paved. My bike was a road bike, which wasn’t very conducive to gravel/dirt road, and I started working later, so the mornings were the only time I had to exercise. I’ve run down country roads with nothing but moonlight, and that’s pretty cool....” A nice explanation, but his real reason for running? Miker has a penchant for Cheetos.As far as running without shoes, in his own words, he says, “I run bare and/or minimalist because I wanted to try to exercise all the muscles in my feet. I was having some tendonitis that I thought could be caused by muscle atrophy, since I’ve been in shoes since about 1965. But that just got me started into trying minimalist shoes. I began in VFFs in April 2010 and have been trying to do more barefoot but have been limited by many of the TMTS injuries we all go through. I’m going to try to run a 15K race at the end of October. That’ll be the longest BF run to date for me.” Mike achieved that goal, so if you haven’t already, go read Miker’s race experience on the BRS's home page!Mike’s running partners are Zookie and Buttercup. He shares, “If I have to run ‘in-town,’ Zookie gets to go with me on a leash. I guess she needs some way to control me.” His favorite race is the Hospital Hill Half Marathon in Kansas City. “Why? It was my first race longer than a 10K. It is well done and really fun to run. I’ve run it every year but one, since I started running in road races and ran one at home that day just in the spirit of things.” A memorable running experience includes the NYC Marathon, at which the pre-race announcements are given in six languages. Being very much a man of the present, he claims his favorite running distance is whatever he’s running on any given day. His PRs list as: 10K = 00:48ish; half marathon = 1:57ish; and his marathon time is 4:10ish.Miker joined the BRS in July this year because he had been looking for a barefoot running club, thinking he needed one in his own town in order to attend their “meetings.” He wasn’t disappointed though, as he says, “Not that there was a barefoot running club in my town, but I didn’t know that when I started looking. Found the BRS and haven’t looked back. This is the most fun I’ve had in years!”In closing, I think Mike’s final thoughts are an eloquent echo of many on the forum. “I appreciate all of the help the BRS has been to me thus far in my BF journey. I look forward to helping others with their journeys as well. I think we have a great community here, and I am excited about the future of barefoot running and the BRS.”