Rain running advice

[jswan2011]

I'm running the Ocean Drive Marathon this weekend in Cape May, NJ which is supposed to be a total washout. This will be my first marathon and i'm kind of bummed that the weather is not cooperating for me, but what can i expect for March we have been spoiled this whole winter.

Can anyone give me advice for running 26.2 in VFFs in the rain?

 

[migangelo]

you had me excited. i thought you were going bare. i love to run bare in the rain, especially the trails. for your vff's all i can say is don't wear socks.

 

[Agnesd]

I live in Washington and have battled the rainy running since I started. I tried in my VFFs, but my problem is that they never dried out and the wet between my toes just kept me cold the whole time. Now if I expect to be wet in either or mud or rain, I wear my Vivobarefoot Ultras without the liner and no socks - it's better than wet fabric against my skin. If I had started running barefoot before winter, I would be running barefoot in the rain, but I'm not acclimated to the cold and it has been difficult due to our wildly moody weather.

If you're going to wear KSO's, I would second the no sock idea. But I talked to a runner in VFFs at a very muddy race a month ago, and he said he had to wear socks if it was wet to prevent blisters. So if you blister easy, maybe wool toe socks? Good luck!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I would think the socks would help prevent chafing and blistering, especially when it's wet, but then again, they can slow you down once they're all wet and soggy as they will feel heavy. Maybe some of those really like-weight, wicking toe socks instead?

Have fun at the race. If the rain starts to become a problem, take your VFFs off and run the rest of it barefoot.

 

[NickW]

I run in the Portland'ish area in Oregon and it is wet and rainy nearly everyday during the winter. I hate shoes when it's wet. My feet actually do better when wet when I'm barefoot. I've hear a lot of people say that their skin gets soft when wet, but the only time I've noticed that for myself is when I've had a wet sock or shoe attached to my foot. I think that has something to do with the sock or shoe being directly on the skin where as when barefoot the foot gets to come out of the water and water drips off. Socks and shoes just keep it there against your skin constantly. Not sure if you're to the level of running barefoot for the marathon but that may be a consideration for you, maybe if you have problems with the vffs take them off and go barefoot like TJ suggested. Good luck and I hope you figure out what works for you.

 

[jswan2011]

Thanks for all your ideas, I would love to run this totally barefoot but we have alot of chip and seal asphalt in NJ which is hell on the feet. I might be able to handle it for 10 to 12 miles but not 26.2. I'll have to adapt as i go when trouble arrises.
I need to get better with my form before I can tackle that distance but i do love running through puddles barefoot i havent done it in the rain yet.

 

[pilotrunner]

Running in the rain rocks barefoot.

No clue with shoes... Anymore, that is.

Pfft. New Jersey Chip-n-seal. Come to Texas, dude, we'll show you some chip roads. Rain really helps, I must say. It smooths out the ride but you do have to concentrate a bit on form.

 

[jswan2011]

No Rain! thank goodness but I did have a head wind. Ran 4:40 for my first marathon, but my ankle was giving me trouble that was too hard to bear past mile marker 22. I began to question whether i was going to finish, but after talking to a runner passing me running backwards past me bearing an AC marathon shirt named Doug gave me the notion I didn't even think of while tredging down the desolate road of chip n seal pavement which never seamed to end. Doug asked me how long I had been wearing my VFFS? and he couldn't run in them because he has high arches and it puts too much stress on his plantar facia. I told him that I did train to run in them by running barefoot periodically. soon after her shrugged and continued to zoom past me running backwards and I had about a quarter of a mile limping and gimping until it hit me just past marker 24.
I think I should ditch the shoes! what's the worst that can happen? The pain in my ankle disappeared and began to build speed. I somewhat sprinted to the finish with a 9 ish pace with the cheering and odd stares that can make any barefooter proud.

It just makes me wonder how the whole race would have gone if I decided to ditch them sooner.

 

[Barefoot Everett]

Great Job jswan you represented well check out the post I made in the Races and events forum!