Yeah, I've been told that anything this side of the Tappan Zee is "upstate". I'm about 3hrs up rt 17. There's a nice, very small, marathon not far from Rockland County, close to Port Jervis, in PA, called the Lackawaxen Marathon. It's mostly through state game lands and along the Delaware. Yeah, I used to run and race by training program, regardless of what I felt like. Not that I was very fast or anything. My goal last year was to run a BQ and planned on running 3 spring marathons (3 in 71 days, and did it!), but this hip injury really prevented any sort of speed, at all. I couldn't flex or extend my left leg enough get any power and a very limited range of motion. Reading about barefoot running and the whole listen to your body philosophy behind this type of running seems much more natural, enjoyable, and hopefully less likely to leave you with lasting chronic injuries. Thanks for the post!Welcome to the BRS, Becky
Yeah, where in Upstate NY are you located? I grew up in Rockland County and people in the city thought THAT was Upstate, lol.
When you call yourself "a marathoner", it conjuers up an image of a pretty serious runner. Like, the kind that runs fast, lol. And trains according to scientific training plans. And chooses races on the proper weekend of a training cycle. And tries to win awards... etc.
What I mean is, you might be in a pretty small subcategory of ppl looking to make the switch to barefoot. You also seem like a really good candidate for it, given your dislike of shoes, so I hope you do make the decision to chuck the orthopedic boots and 'start over' again!