My first BF race... Akron Marathon - Relay (re-post)

swedishpimple

Barefooters
Jul 18, 2010
180
2
18
My apologies for the re-post. There's a near duplicate of this in the blog section... but I wasn't sure how much anyone paid attention to that part of the site and since it was a milestone for me... I guess I just wanted to share. So here it is again... (with a few minor edits) ****
I finally did it! I was in my first BF race and actually my first running race ever.

This weekend was the Akron Marathon... my hometown in Northeast Ohio.

Having just started running last year I never imagined before then that I would be participating in one of these events. Oh, I had tried running before... but I never really sustained the effort... there was pain and discomfort and I always ended up just giving up and moving on to other things ... In short I just didn't really see the appeal.

But that was before I found Barefoot running. It's not that it was easier to run without shoes... it was after all still hard work... and it's not that there wasn't any pain or discomfort along the way because there was indeed some of both. For me it was just that there was something new in almost every outing... new surfaces to try, temperatures to endure, sensations to feel, techniques to learn, obstacles to overcome... new everything. I was never bored. I had to learn to walk in bare feet, run in bare feet, and finally race with bare feet... and I think it was the ever changing challenge of something new that kept me engaged in an activity that I would have never really pursued seriously otherwise... RUNNING. :)

So this weekend was my first race... it was a long time coming and it was so totally worth it.

Here are the highlights:

First race - Check

First BF race - Check

First race in a kilt - Check 8)

6.3 miles (4.1 on crushed limestone) - Check

PR despite stopping to chat with my peeps along the way - Check

First shiny race medal - Check

General Awesomeness - Check

Anyway I'm trying to keep this short... so I'll wrap it up here. I did hear about 2 other BF runners in the event. One of these runners even caught up to me at the end of my leg and we shared a few BF paces together before we split off. I still have no idea who he was... just that he was doing the full 26.2. The event was well organized, the weather was perfect, and everyone was very supportive.

I may be hooked for good now. Running is FUN!!!!... who would have thunk it?

Thanks all.

S. Pimp.
 
I love stories like these! 

I love stories like these! Congrats!
 
Thanks!My leg was 6.3

Thanks!

My leg was 6.3 miles.... so a little better than a 10K.

I find Crushed Limestone to be quite variable in terms of ease of barefootability. It really comes down to two things... how weathered it is and it's overall chunkiness. In general the "crushing" part of the processing of the stone seems to create a lot of sharp points... so if it is fresh or if the chunks are big enough and haven't been weathered it can start to feel uncomfortable pretty quickly.

The limestone on this course was by no means the worst it can be, but it was still a bit of challenge for me... but maybe I'm just soft?

Regardless last year 1-2 miles was my max with this stuff under my feet.... so it was good to see that I was able to handle it this time... and at race pace too.

S. Pimp.
 
Wow...that's pretty tough

Wow...that's pretty tough skin! I'm doing some bucket training, but still on the smaller gravel. I'll move up to the big chunks in a couple of weeks, though. There is zero gravel where I live and run, but I figure it doesn't hurt to be prepared!

-Jonny