My First Barefoot Race Experience... a Surprise

inbetweenmytoes

Barefooters
Apr 3, 2010
173
6
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I bit the bullet and raced for my first time in bare feet on Saturday... It was my longest barefoot run to date, and I surprised myself with my fastest race pace to date (a surprise considering my average barefoot pace has always been approximately 2 min/mile slower than when running in FiveFingers in a race). Over the 10 km route I averaged 7:22 min/mile. It was crazy! My energy was high, and I really enjoyed the gasps and comments when running passed other participants. "Hey, that guy is barefoot!" "Way to go, dude!" "How do you do that?"

Other than a little numbness after halfway and the occasional need to skip over to the smoother sidewalk, my feet felt great. I came in 13th out of 300+ racers, and I was second in my age category. It was definitely a boost to my running ego (feel free to keep boosting me up as I'll need the help for a mountain marathon and 50 miler coming up in the near future). I should have a post up on my blog soon.

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  Wow,

Wow, great job!!!



what marathon and 50 will you be doing and what will be on your feet for these?
 
Fantastic job Nathan!! Wow,

Fantastic job Nathan!! Wow, very impressive pace...what was your 10k time? Your feet look great post race too, right on!
 
Love the lean post you have

Love the lean post you have there, very cute!
 
Shacky - Thanks for the

Shacky - Thanks for the gratuitous boosting. I'll be doing the Moose Mountain Trail Race in Bragg Creek, Alberta and the Le Grizz 50 miler in Hungry Horse, Montana. I'm planning on FiveFingers for those races... perhaps a little barefoot along parts of the trails to dry my feet out.

Zumba - 45:08 was what my watch read. I couldn't stick around for anything official as I had a long drive home to get started (14 hours over a day and a half)... thank goodness for recovery socks. My mother-in-law freaked a little at a spot of blood on the bottom of my right foot, but it was nothing. I must've stabbed my soft arch on some stubble when crossing a dried out boulevard. That was the worst of it. I consider myself quite lucky, but a little training from Lee Saxby earlier in the week had a lot to do with it as well.

Barefoot TJ - All three of my leaning posts all came out, bare feet and all, to support me. I'm definitely a lucky guy.
 
That's a killer time,

That's a killer time, Between. (Do they still say killer?) I wish I could run that fast. I'm just a plodding turtle. Congrats!
 
Congrats! I have a mile race

Congrats! I have a mile race on Saturday - still deciding whether to go bare. I raced a 5K bare but didn't care about my time - feel a bit differently about this one. Did you feel like race day adrenaline changed how much you paid attention to your feet? I'll be able to check out the course beforehand - it's asphalt but not sure if chip and seal. Any thoughts from the wild man?
 
jschwab - Race day adrenaline

jschwab - Race day adrenaline definitely was one of the primary causes for pushing my limits. That competitive inner self also falls culprit. As far as paying attention to my feet?... I was lucky enough to be staying at my parent-out-laws, and they lived right on the course. a half hour before the race, they took me on a drive through the course. I would stop every time the surface seemed to change and do a barefoot test by sticking my foot out the door of the car and pushing down on the ground. I was even luckier to have gained some barefoot coaching from Lee Saxby earlier in the week. His advice was the real reason for paying particular attention to both my form and feet. It is also the reason, I believe, that I was able to push my pace.
 
That's what I plan to do

That's what I plan to do (foot sticky outy). This is very helpful. I am kind of annoyed because I didn't take the time to do some trials to work out a goal pace. I also did a crazy workout (dynamic squats, kettlebells) on Friday that STILL hurts. So, just resting and hoping to do some strides beforehand, but I have to give up on having a sense of control over the pace. My best mile time is around 8:40 so I'm not looking to burn any jets, but 9:30 barefoot at this point would be a nice race for a turtle like me.
 
Jimmy - Thanks. I need all

Jimmy - Thanks. I need all the help I can get for those next races.

jschwab - Good luck on the race tomorrow. Look forward to reading your report.

capmikee - I love seeing kids barefoot as well, especially mine. Thanks for the boost.
 
inbetweenmytoes- I was

inbetweenmytoes- I was looking at doing the Le Grizz in 2011 while I was still running in shoes, not sure if I'll have my mileage up high enough now barefoot or not, but it's definitely one that I'm aiming for. Good Luck!
 
 I hope that it makes my

I hope that it makes my plans for next year. If you decide to take on the challenge perhaps I'll meet you there. For me, this means some bucket gravel marching through the winter. I have a half in May that I am planning on running barefoot, and I hope to throw in a marathon... probably in VFF. We'll see how the year goes. Wouldn't it be cool to do the Le Grizz barefoot? I don't imagine that they've seen that before, especially this year as it was 44 miles on gravel.