Pardon my excitement!  Up until a month ago I hadn’t run more than 5 miles at once, and I had only reached that distance around August of this year after nearly 30 years of not being able to run more than a mile at once because of iliotibial band pain.  Yesterday I ran in the 6.1 mile Boise YMCA Christmas Run.  It all began with switching to running barefoot this summer.

I was able to run two shorter races completely barefoot before arctic temperatures made some minimalist footwear a wise choice. As with all shoes, there has been some adjusting to avoid many blisters, but continuing to work on good barefoot form helps even with that.  Still, I ended up needing one piece of duct tape on a toe for the race.

My husband is my coach, and as such worked up a three week training plan when I, inspired by a casual comment from my cross country running daughter, decided to try the 6.1 mile race.  A couple days of hill repeats on a nearby road, a couple days of increased distance up to seven miles, some stationary biking with intervals, then a week of rest and I was as prepared as I was going to be.

I am directionally challenged, so studied the race course over several days.  When I had participated in the Lake Cascade sprint triathlon in August, I had ended up by myself through much of the race.  Its a weird feeling.   But for this Christmas run, that ended up not being a problem at all.  I was constantly surrounded by people, being passed, passing others.  Many people wore costumes and many were elves.  I couldn’t tell if I was passing the same elf over and over, or finding new ones.  It was all quite jolly, and I generally called out a merry “ho ho ho” when passing signs that instructed runners to do so. 

Besides increased distance, the course threatened me with a 1.5 mile up-hill section and a .5 mile steep downhill on gravel.  I was thrilled to find that I could run the whole hill at an average pace of 10-11 minute miles. I know the barefoot form helped immensely with that. I could just tell that as I passed people I was not trying as hard as they were.   Because it was my first race at this distance, my coach told me not to push it, especially up the hill, so I chose a steady pace that I could maintain. I really didn’t want to end up walking, which many others resorted to.

For the down hill, the bending of the knees combined with basically no added sole height of my Moc3′s gave me both stability and spring to my step. My biggest concern was not slipping.  I decided to let gravity do it’s thing and enjoy the motion!  It was my best downhill experience so far and I’m sure I was grinning.

I did start to feel some fatigue in the last two miles, but this was moderated by my recently healed husband coming alongside to run part way with me.  He dropped to the side as I entered the final length.  Right about then, two 40some ladies tried to pass me.  All thoughts I had previously had about having given “my all” vanished from my head.  I increased my pace to regain my lead.  They passed me again.  I broke into a full sprint, cut and swerved around a line of six walkers taking up most of the street (what were they thinking?!) and beat those girls across the finish line.  I appear to be incorrigibly competitive, at the end of the race anyway.

I forgot to look at the clock or check my watch until sometime after a volunteer had gathering my race tag.  I didn’t win any age group awards this time around (hubby says the good runners run the longer races), so had to wait until the results were posted today to know the all-important statistics.    Good news, though.  I was 287th out of about 696 runners in the long race.  I was 12th of 37 in my age group, the winners having times like 41, 43, and 46 minutes.  I would have placed very comparably in any age group with my overall time of 51:20.2.  Knowing from my watch that I reached the three mile mark with about 10 minute miles (near the top of the hill), that means I ran the rest of the race in close to 21 minutes!  Seven minute mile pace!  Cool!

The steam rising from the pond taunted me as I began my run in the sub-freezing temperatures.  At 14 degrees Fahrenheit, any steam escaping my nose was immediately crystallized to (delicately, I’m sure) encircle my nostrils.  The sun was just barely coming over the horizon at 8 AM.

It was my day to increase my run to seven miles.  The basically one mile loop around the Wilson Springs fishing ponds is less than five minutes from my house.  I don’t have to deal with traffic while running there; plus, others can come along with me and run or walk at their own paces, but we still see each other frequently.

I wore my Soft Star Moc3 running moccasins this morning.  I had been running completely barefoot most of the summer during my training, reaching a five mile distance without any footwear, working up to participating in a barefoot 5K in October. When the winter weather came, I found my feet got both numb and painful if the temperature went below 32 degrees.  Advice from Maple Grove Barefoot Guy was greatly appreciated and I donned my winter running shoes with less guilt.   Barefoot Bob gave me hope about spring transitions.

At first, I REALLY didn’t like the loss of barefoot feedback while running, but the comfort of warmth has compensated for much of that.  AND I was pleased to find that even with ski socks from smartwool.com, the Moc3′s were allowing for good ground feel. My tootsies were not too hot and not at all chilled, yet the soles of the shoes were thin enough that I still had to watch carefully where I put my foot, enforcing good barefoot running habits.

The path starts off as asphalt next to the parking lot, but there is a constant scattering of gravel, along with proof of duck traffic.  I wished I had brought something to cover my face, although every other inch of me was covered or double covered.  My average 9:12 minute mile pace warmed up my legs and fingers after two miles, but I couldn’t tell if my face was warmer or just lacking feeling.  I reached up to rub it once in a while to verify it was still there.  I have lost nearly 20 pounds since last April and get colder more easily now.  I briefly wondered if I could borrow the weight back for insulation during the winter…

My running was fairly silent.  As I rounded various corners, the ducks found my sudden presence startling.  They would rise en mass with a rush of wings that resonated deeply over the open water.    I offered my reassurances, but they remained unconvinced.  Observing the effort it took for their heavy, boat like bodies to take to the air, I felt comparatively light and aerodynamic  as a runner.

The path winds by a field with horses on the right, then about 3/4 of the way around a dirt road branches off to the right, skirting some of the less heated ponds and making the loop a solid one mile, if not slightly more.  This frozen tundra runs along behind a few houses.  The ground is uneven and hides some larger stones.  When I tried to run in the flatter ruts, the tall grasses whipped in my face, giving me the full safari experience.  No, wait, there weren’t any lions or elephants.  But there are scraggly trees in front of the glowing orange globe of the sun.

After banking around a large outer pond that is partly iced over, the path joins the asphalt again and turns over a bridge.  The fallen trees criss-crossing the deep, splashing brook appear impenetrable.  If I didn’t know better, I would have no idea of the parking lot and well traveled roads just a couple hundred feet beyond.

As the circle is completed, morning breaks out in full glory over the water.

If one must run in 14 degrees, this is a nice place to do it.

Today I ran my second barefoot race, the 5K Barber to Boise run.  In spite of a somewhat bruised left foot from dancing (in shoes) last weekend, I ran without any pain.  I did end up with an unopened blood blister on a toe of my right foot, as well as a very small opened blister on another toe.  The left foot formed what seems to be a half calloused blister in the same place I got one at the Nampa Harvest Classic 2 mile run.

I am finding that I tend to run faster in races and that the courses are on smoother pavement than most of what I train on, so I think I need to vary my training course to include smooth asphalt.  Also, I think I  need to run more with other people and do more speed work, because apparently I cannot help putting in a good kick at the end.  This time, I told myself the whole race to just keep a faster pace and not have energy to sprint, but, alas, there seems to always be someone to try to pass right at the end.  I tell myself that it’s silly to be competitive at age 50, but when the moment comes there is only one thing on my mind – going faster.

I loved finishing on the Boise Bronco Stadium track.  When I reached that last 1/8 mile on the track, I entered a lovely dreamworld of racing and was rewarded by oohs and ahhs of spectators as I crossed the finish line.  I have paid some price, not only in blisters, but in my bruised foot having returned tenderness, but only after the race and when walking.  The blisters are making it hard to walk completely normally, too, so I think I’ll be spending more time in the pool and on the spinning bike this week to give it a rest.

With all of these complications, and with B2B drawing a lot more runners,  I had no thoughts of placing.  Greg estimated 1000 entrants in the 5K.  No results are online yet, but the mass behind me at the starting line was scary long.  I was quite happy to find out that my average 8:43 minute mile pace garnered me first in my age group (50-54), 37th among women, and 97th overall.  Woot!  I have a lovely mug and bag.

I had SO MUCH FUN running.  It just felt SO GOOD!  I also had fun when participants at the starting line asked me about my bare feet.  Runners that I passed commented, and some seemed to be a bit put out that some old lady without shoes could be passing them, but most were impressed or interested.  I haven’t been quite well the last two days, so I rested on Greg’s shoulder for a while after the race, but I was awake for prizes.

Greg got 10th overall and first in his age group, too, in spite of wearing shoes.  Old, worn out 10 year old shoes, to be sure.  He had to beat Natalie’s latest race time (scroll all the way down near the bottom to BUGTOWN CANYON COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP) and finish before any of the girls in the race, per usual.  Goals met.  His time was 18:57. He quips that he and I tied because we both won first prize for our age group.  I can go with that.

(photo compliments of my friend Mary at owlhaven.net unless otherwise noted)

After three months of really transitioning to barefoot running, I was ready to try my first barefoot race.  Conveniently, the 27th annual Harvest Classic Fun Run was scheduled in my home town.   I was very familiar with the route, part of which I have run regularly since it is hardly 5 minutes from my house.  I couldn’t ask for a more comfortable situation.  I have worked up to 3.5 miles completely barefoot, so the 2 mile course was my choice.

It was chilly when we got there for check in, so I kept covered head to toe, wearing my Moc3′s that I wore in my first sprint triathlon. Fortunately, a couple of my kids and friends were there so we could try to find a balance between cuddling and other more traditional pre-race warm-up activities.

Sadly, I passed up the raised glazed doughnuts, bananas, and other available snacks for racers.  I had been practicing a routine of hot Malt-O-Meal (… with butter, sugar, and a sprinkling of chocolate chips…)  a couple of hours before I ran.  It was best not to deviate.  We made sure we had our timing chips on our ankles and found a hint of warmth in sunny spot of the early dawn.

The organized pre-race warm up at the starting line was a lively 15 minutes of aerobic dance lead by instructors from the Recreation Center.  Since I had been dancing vigorously the previous night for a full three hours until midnight, I was already unsure how my legs were going to hold up and so did not participate much.  When it was time to line up, I positioned myself about 4 layers back and wondered if my toes were going to be at risk in the initial stampede.

Having no speed or time expectations for the race, I did not have any perceptible adrenaline to deal with.  I attempted to settle into my bent knee, relaxed barefoot form while hordes of people whizzed by me.  There was even a speed walker ahead of me, but he had gotten into a more frontal starting position and I soon passed him.  My husband caught a fun little video of the start of the race:

P9170060

I was pleased when I began to pass people right away.  I was just keeping my pace, thinking about my form, and enjoying the run.  Then I began to pass more and more people.  The fastest I had run a training run was just the week before, at a 9:20 mile pace and I felt that I was running easier than that.  I had not taken into consideration that the first two miles of my main training course has about four challenging hills.  The race course was flat.

(photo by Beth)

I think it was hardest on the couple of college age boys when I passed them.  They upped their pace for just a few seconds, but soon let me go on my way.  I guess they need a better training regime.    I kept passing people right up until the last quarter mile, when I came up behind a lady who looked rather close to my age.  My competitive side kicked in and I was irked that she had been ahead of me all this time.  She was in shoes, as was EVERYONE else, but she looked comfortable.  I decided that just a little increase in my cadence would enable me to pass her and make it more likely that I got first place in my age group.

Right after I passed her, I turned the corner to the straightaway.  Some of my family were there to cheer me on.  Then I thought I heard a pace increase behind me and possibly a shadow begin to creep up on my right.  I couldn’t let this happen.  With 25 yards to go, I broke into a sprint and raced happily across the finish line to a cry of cheers from the crowd!

I have always loved sprinting.  I was a sprinter during my brief time in junior high and high school track.  But my feet aren’t used to sprinting on asphalt.  I felt an uncomfortable sensation on one of my toes.  An examination revealed a popped blister the diameter of a green pea and some blood.  I headed for the first aid station to ask for a bandaid.  The nice lady there greeted me with a smiling “You’re the barefoot runner!”  She wasn’t accusing or “I told you so” in her greeting, but there was a hint of “this isn’t surprising.”  I was her only customer, so she listened to my explanation of the blister.

The results of the race were already available near the finish line.  I was very happy to discover that I was first in my age group (50-59), placed 21st out of about 62, AND I had run at an average 8:30 minute mile pace! for a total race in 17 minutes.

Of course, my 25 year old son and 15 year old daughter beat me by a wide margin.  They haven’t even been training as much as I have either.  My son took 3rd overall; and my daughter was 11th overall, but 3rd of the women.  However, I’m the only one with a “gold medal” because of being first in my age group.  Kind of funny.  Here are a couple of pictures of them looking very impressive at the finish:

Here’s the blister.   I was embarrassed that I hadn’t represented barefoot runners well, until I remembered that all the runners I know have blisters from their shoes on a regular basis.  That has not been a normal problem for me.   I will give the foot a couple of days to heal, but I will run again very soon.  However, I do need to train more for the finish and do some more research, because I can tell that I will instinctively respond to the spirit of the race and sprint again.                                                                                                                                 (photo at right by Greg)

I started out to make a dress to wear to the wedding.  Then I found one in my closet that fits much more nicely since I lost about 15 pounds.  Only now, after all this barefoot activity, I was cringing at the thought of my dress shoe choices.  I briefly considered going barefoot, since it is an outdoor wedding, but social expectations hung over me.  Besides, the ceremony will take place at a cabin in the woods and I might not be able to see the ground.  It has never occurred to me to make my own shoes before, but it did today.

I mentioned it to dear hubby and he was very supportive of the project.  He immediately thought of the 13 year old deer hide he had hanging in the barn and I experienced my second major *cringe* of the day.  Still, it was leather and free.  It helped that he set right to some final cleaning, softening, and ironing. (He promises he cleaned the iron right afterwards…)  Meanwhile, I searched the internet for ideas and came up with a pattern of sorts.

I must emphasize that I made several mistakes while making this first pair.  Some I may not have yet realized!  Also, I had to make adjustments to deal with the somewhat stiff deer hide.  I traced my feet, making sure that I was fully bearing weight on them, then sort of rounded that out to create the pattern piece for the soles.  I added about a 3/8 inch border all around for a potential seam allowance.  Next time I will probably cut the sole more narrowly where it is under the arch. The topper pattern was sketched by tracing around the toe and sides of the sole pattern, but leaving it in a open “U” shape at the bottom.  I determined the distance of the outer perimeter by placing a string around the sole tracing, then stretching it straight to measure.  Greg doubled checked my results (or did it an easier way) by measuring around my foot with the cloth tape measure perpendicular to the floor.  Again, I made sure I was standing with full weight on my feet.

I cut pieces for toppers and soles out of both outer and liner material, all things I had on hand.  My worst choice in that category was thinking a knit would be comfortable and easy to work with for the topper liner.  I will not do that again. The sole liners were quite acceptable, being cut from a soft, but substantial slightly fuzzy cotton woven.  The outer topper, the part that is seen, is cut from a only slightly stretchy polyesther faux snake skin that my son bought as a scrap in Taiwan 3 years ago!  (waves at Jesse)

Then, based on this blog on making slippers and this equally good slipper tutorial, I began to sew pieces together.

1 )  I sewed the heel seam(right side of fabric together) first, that is, the ends of the open “U’s”.  All seams are a bare 1/8 inch, then reinforced with a very narrow zig zag in the seam allowance.

2)  Next, I attached the sole liner to the topper liner, also right sides of fabric together.

This next step is the most glaring deviation from directions for making the slippers.

3)  I saw that I needed to sew the right side of the outer topper to the right side of lining topper around the upper edge at this point.  To help that seam lay flat, I under stitched the seam allowance to the topper lining.  Then I top stitched the upper opening a scant 1/8 inch from the edge.  This is where I admit that I accidentally sewed one liner-topper combo inside out, but had gotten so far along before I noticed it that it would have been a lot of seam ripping to get it out.  I tried it on as was and decided it didn’t make enough difference for this pair of shoes.

4)  Meanwhile, Greg was moving on to cutting out the soles, followed by using a freshly sharpened ice pick to poke holes a scant 1/4 inch apart about 1/4 inch from the edge:

5)  Then I proceeded to use a large needle and doubled regular thread to whip stitch the wrong side of the fabric outer topper of the shoe to the deer hide sole.  I always began a new thread under the the topper, to hide the knot.  I ended the thread under the topper as well, enabling me to tuck it under with the next bit of sewing.  For the final section, I just tied it tightly, left the cut with about 3/4 inch thread out, then pushed it into the shoe seam with the needle.  I will consider using a tougher thread next time, but I wanted to not make any trips to the store this time around.  We’ll see how it holds up with wear.

6)  I made a simple bow and hand sewed it in place.

You can see that the deer hide stayed a bit wrinkly.  It is also a little slick.  May need to rough it up.  The topper may have been a touch too short, heel to toe.  I added a dart of sorts lengthwise along each side of both shoes because it looked like there was too much fabric there.  Even with all the mistakes, I am ready to try to make another pair.  They are super comfortable and very inexpensive.  There is fashion potential.  I have enough deer hide for at least one more pair.  When that is gone, I will look for a softer leather for the soles, and maybe use two layers it.  The possibilities are endless.

(Us after we finished on Saturday, photo by Greg)

On August 27th, we celebrated August 28th, which was our 29th wedding anniversary, by completing the Lake Cascade Sprint Triathlon.  The weekend was off to a rousing start as I picked up my husband from the Boise airport after a two weeks for him in Shanghai (yes, China), followed by delayed flights that barely got him to back in time for Transition Nampa-Lake Cascade, which is triathlon code-talk for, well, transitioning to the next phase of action.  Timing amazingly allowed for a quick stop to watch one daughter’s cross country race, then we were off to check in at Cascade Vacation Rentals’ Blue Skys Cottage.

We arrived at Van Wyck Park at just the last possible moment, 8 PM, to pick up our race packets that night.  It was helpful to see how everything was set up and would look in the morning.  We found our cabin at the end of a narrow dirt lane, in the dark, on the side of West Mountain.  A schedule was agreed on for the morning and somehow we managed to sleep.

In the morning, I made my favorite breakfast of malt-o-meal and chocolate chips and shared it with Greg.  Then I mixed up my version of a RealLemon lemonade sports drink, which means following the directions and adding a bit of salt, and put it in my new Camelbak Fairfax hydration backpack (mine is yellow).  I dressed in my tri-suit, topped by a sweat suit and a polar fleece poncho to keep my core heated until the swim since I wasn’t going to wear a wet suit.  We double checked for transition supplies and headed back down the mountain.

Greg had graciously agreed to take us in earlier than he would have liked to, knowing that I would be more relaxed that way.  There were only a handful of 150 racers (for 5 different events) there before us, but the volunteers were active, cheerful, and helpful.  We got our race numbers (left back of hand and left upper arm), race code (back of left calf), and ages (back of right calf) written on us in big, black permanent marker.  The bikes were placed in the rack, the timing chips were attached to our ankles, and we did a bit of stretching and deep breathing while waiting for the pre-race briefing.  There was friendly chatting and sharing of information between the athletes.

Waiting for the starting horn, we dipped our toes in the water and discovered that there are advantages to the water temperature being warmer than the air temperature.  It felt like getting in a lukewarm bathtub.  Then we had to move back and wait for three minutes after the Olympic distance racers  began their race.  In some trepidation of getting trampled during the run into the water, I hung back in the second row.  Then our horn blew and the lake was filled with splashing bodies, including mine.

Having recently read some specific advice about triathlon swimming on swimsmooth.com had helped calm my nerves. In fact, in spite of bursts of adrenaline earlier throughout the week, I never had an adrenaline rush during the race. This was very helpful during the swim.  I couldn’t concentrate on my form the same way as swimming in the lap pool, but I was able to relax into my stroke, which was predominantly crawl, only needing to use the breast stroke for a couple of short intervals to get my bearings.  I did swim off course one time on the first stretch, heading towards the center of the encircled area, which probably cost me about 20 seconds.  There was a bit of bumping and kicking, but everyone was very pleasant about it all.

Imagine my surprise when I exited the water and saw Greg sitting there getting help removing his wetsuit!  He has never been able to swim faster than me.  He says he just wanted to be out of there so fast that he powered through.  Plus, he had the wetsuit for buoyancy.  He also started in the first row.  So, I passed him sitting there helplessly wrapped in neoprene, but he passed me right away again because  he actually got on his bike faster.  I was concentrating so hard on what I was doing, that I don’t even remember him coming and going right beside me at the bike rack!  He did wave at me when he passed me going the opposite way on the mountain…

From the moment I entered the water, I had no sense of where my standing was in the race.  So, as multiple racers on road bikes passed me on my mountain bike, I got a little depressed.  However, that meant I had at least done decently in the swim.  Also, I had known that the heavier mountain bike would make things comparatively harder for me.  Over 90% of the other racers had light weight road bikes.  There was nothing to do but keep plugging along, smiling at the volunteers along the course.  There was never a group riding near me.  They would pass me and go off into the horizon over a hill.  The course was a combination of rolling hills, a middle section up West Mountain, down the mountain in fear of crashing, rolling hills again, then it ended with a side trip through a neighborhood with a couple of killer hills that I had to pedal standing up.  Yikes.  That was an unexpected course change.  At one turn, I asked if I was the last one, but the volunteer responded in a surprised voice saying, “Not even close!” so that encouraged me.

I had started my own watch at the beginning of the race, so was  happy to see that my total swim-bike time was just over an hour.  That was 15 – 30 minutes better than my estimate!  Whoot!  But now my legs were feeling uncooperative and though I had had every intention of enjoying my run through the back roads and along a lakeside trail, it took a great deal of effort to keep those legs moving.

Since I am only up to running 2 miles barefoot, I had chosen to purchase a pair of Soft Star Moc3′s in order to make the transition from biking to running more manageable, since I wanted to wear regular tennis shoes on the bike.  I had only run in them two times before the actual triathlon and had gotten a couple of blisters then, but, being concerned about overdoing it with my barefoot distance, I still wore them.  During the race, I was quite comfortable, except for one tiny little blister that I barely noticed in the last half mile.

The best part of the run was that I began to pass people!!!  I had apparently paced myself well.  I just thought about relaxing into my barefoot form and my legs began to loosen up some after a mile, even if I still felt like I was going slowly along.  I was very happy to find that I had actually run at an average 9 1/2 minute mile pace!

I still had no idea what my overall standing was in the race.  Greg came back to run with me after he had finished and told me I was doing well, but I didn’t know what that meant.  As it turns out, I was 14th out of 27 women and first in my age group (!). I was 35th out of 53 when the men are included in the results.

That’s the first individual blue ribbon I’ve had since junior high, I think.  I beat several women younger than me, and had a better time than about a third of the age group winners younger than me.  A little more comparison statistics showed me to be 17.5 minutes behind the winner, but 24.5 minutes ahead of the second to last place.  (Last place was far enough behind that I didn’t want to use that.  I’m certainly not discounting anyone’s effort.  It was simply a matter of statistics.)

Greg was amazing, as usual.  After not being able to run for a few weeks due to a stress fracture, he managed to take eighth place overall, as well as first place in his age group! That gives us matching blue ribbons to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Very satisfactory.

A perfect ending to the event was a trip to some hot springs with good friends.  One of them had run the Olympic distance triathlon, so, being a little light headed after the race, we were quite humored to see that our legs spelled:

SOS (on the left calves)

Okay, it’s corny, but what a day.

This week, for the first time, I ran 2 miles consecutively, on asphalt, including several hills, while barefoot.  I even cut 1 minute’s time off of the first mile and 30 seconds off of the second mile compared to my best previous barefoot-on-hills times.  This in spite of the time it took my canine companion to make it past the four scary pack llamas being led down the other side of the street.  The worst part of the run is the scant 1/8 mile down my street due to it having been recently chip-sealed, but even there I was a bit faster. I might have to go try the gravel roads in the Owhyees again for the sake of pure research.

I had previously been doing most of my running on the level ground of area greenbelts, but after a trial run on the course for the Lake Cascade Triathlon I knew I needed more training time on hills.  Fortunately, I have just the right kind on a 2 mile section right out of my front door and down the street.  I am definitely learning to float down the hills and ease up them.  Now that I know which dogs are going to rush me and which ones are going to be shocked by an invisible fence, I can concentrate more on my running form and less on self-preservation.

Right after the 2 barefoot miles, I was pleased to find I could run another 2 miles in Vibrams.  This I did as fast as I could on asphalt (always slower than the wood track at the gym) for the first time since before my right popliteal injury in January of this year.   Those 2 miles were 9:10 and 9:20, not smoking fast, but they give me hope.  It seems the patient transition and training are paying off.  I know I won’t always make such leaps of progress, but I will be happy with what I’ve done for now.

My feet are not shredded in the slightest.  In fact, they are getting more leathery, but without losing my “toeprints” which you can see clearly if you enlarge the second picture.  Gravel is sticking to them much less, although I do occasionally pause for a split second to brush something off.  I have been walking barefoot most of the day and there is not any obvious dirt.  Of course, I do wipe them well on the grass after walking in the muddy garden and chicken yard…     Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll wash my feet before bed!

The rest of the family was going on a bike ride.  I had declined that because of bouts of dizziness and nausea for the last couple of days, but I felt better enough to run and it sounded like fun.  It was still below 80 degrees at Wilson Creek Wayside and I had my faithful dog.

I didn’t think I’d be able to run barefoot on the gravel at all.  I really planned on doing the barefoot part of my desert run on the desolate asphalt road that ran by the isolated dairy farm.  That is, until I saw the huge double-tank milk truck go by, followed not too much later by the extra long horse trailer rig.  Then the lonely gravel road seemed more inviting.  So, I put my Vibrams in a plastic grocery sack, tied it to my fanny pack strap, and gingerly exited my vehicle.

The parking area and the first 50 feet of the road were covered with a sharp gravel road mix.  My running was so slow that I felt like I was moving through a time warp in slow motion.   I gave up the idea that I would be able to cover any significant distance and decided to set time goals.  My 1/2 miles barefoot on the asphalt the previous week were taking me about 5 minutes, and I had been walking all over various terrain in my acre yard, so I chose 10 minutes in this situation.

After the road mix, the route had everything from slimy miniature ponds to large stones.  Fortunately there was room to get around most of the muddy areas, and the large stones tended to be smooth and decently spaced to allow for reasonable footing.  Most of the smaller rocks were pointy.  All of the insects seemed too busy with their daily routines to bother me.  I had been very concerned about thorns and puncture vine, but only encountered one large burr.  It didn’t cause me any discomfort because my foot responded so well that I instinctively did not step down when I felt it.  I just stopped for a split second, brushed it off, and continued on.  Still, 10 minutes up the moderate incline, my feet were ready for a break.  I found my faithful dog’s fluffy tail was ideal for (gently) wiping off grit before putting on my Vibrams.  Thus, I floated up the remainder of the hill in 12 minutes, turned around and proceeded to glide 12 minutes down without feeling any stress on my knees, ankles, or feet.  I could tell that the initial 10 minutes barefoot had been very beneficial to my form.

I took my Vibrams off again in order to run 10 more minutes completely barefoot, but 6 minutes and 38 seconds later my soles were telling me they had absolutely had enough for now.  I slipped the Vibrams back on to finish my approximately 3 mile effort.

The soles of my feet felt very “activated.”  I ventured a look at them to discover they appeared …  completely … normal!  No blisters.  No cuts.  Nothing to validate 17 minutes of barefoot running on a wild road in the desert.  Would anyone believe me?

 
Completely Baring My Soles

I don’t want to seem stupid.  More than that, I don’t want to BE stupid, so I have been somewhat cautious about going completely barefoot for my running.  I did try a very short distance on asphalt last year, but have let Vibrams and other running moccasins provide my soles with a certain amount of protection.  I tried to incorporate all that I read about running barefoot into my form, but found that I was still getting some aches in various joints every time I ran.

I did some more research and found a good book which is written by a extremely experienced barefoot runner. Now, I was ready to really try to go completely bare, except for in the deep of winter.  I started yesterday with one mile.  Since I have been running without the padded, confining shoes, I figured that my form was close enough to handle that.  It was the bottoms of my feet that I needed to worry about most.  I chose a level, shaded, but slightly rough asphalt path.  I left the dog at home to avoid any need to correct her for over protectiveness.  I relaxed and didn’t worry about going too fast.

There really is something about just being barefooted.  It is fun.  It tempted me to increase my speed in celebration.  However, I held back, letting my cadence rather naturally go faster and thinking about lifting my feet and curving my toes.  After my mile, my legs felt good, but my feet were a warm tingly.  I was surprised to find that the bottoms didn’t look any different.  The sensation went away over the next couple of hours and I began to congratulate myself on a good start.

(Me right after the run)

(My feet a little wet from the grass)

(My feet a couple of hours after the run)

Then, about 4 hours post run, I began to get a bruise-like ache in the ball of my left foot.  I was discouraged.  I gave it time to work itself out and looked at it, albeit without my reading glasses.  It just got worse.  Finally, getting ready for bed, I put on my reading glasses, got a hand held mirror and discovered a teensy black spot in the center of the ache.  A gentle push released a piece of rock no larger than a grain of pepper  AND the ache went away immediately.  I also found I had a pin-head size blister on the pointer toe of the same foot, but I am going around barefoot and in flip=flops today and can’t even feel it.  I guess the moral of the story is to take a closer look at the feet sooner next time.

(yep, that speck showing below the glasses was the problem.  I can see it in the photo above, but I know where it was.)

Today, over 24 hours after the fun (run), I don’t have any of the soreness I had after my first barefoot run. Also, I don’t have the aches that I was still experiencing running with the minimalist shoes.  I still want to consider preparing for a short triathlon (if I can get over my discomfort with open water), so I may do what was mentioned in the book, that is, beginning and ending my run with completely bare feet, gradually increasing the percentage of the time I have bare soles.  And I will continue dancing barefoot, having found that it mimics several of the drills in the book!

I have registered with TheBarefootRunning.com and found this article about potential trouble with barefoot running to be very good. I intend to keep baring my soles.

On our last day of adventures in Taipei, we began with a visit to the Taipei Zoo.  This is no small place, and I’m sure we walked a few miles.  It is half a mile from just the front gate to the animals.  The zoo design categorizes animals by continent.  Sometimes there are two or three enclosed habitats for the same animals.  Most of the animal living spaces seem large and safari like in spite of their camouflaged walls, moats, and electric wire.  However, even with that, I never felt completely safe from the things like lions and white rhinos.  One lion had a roaring spree right after we walked by.  The volume of his repetitive roar was bone chilling.  I would understand if prey was paralyzed by fear when they heard it!

Pandas have been there since just before we stopped living in Taipei two years ago.  It was a lot less crowded this time around and no guard.   We were able to stand there much longer, happening to have arrived right before feeding time.  Greg took a video of the live Teddy Bear.  We thought it was interesting how the panda peeled the bamboo and even then didn’t seem to eat it all before moving on to the next piece.

P4180522

So many animals of varied cuteness, magnificence, or oddity, but I will only post a few pictures this time around.  Descriptions will be below each photo.

This is a type of small deer (here in the zoo) that Greg came across while running in the jungle like parks around and in Taipei.

Besides birds, this was one of the only cages with bars.  I’m guessing leopard are just too good at jumping.

Who doesn’t love an elephant?!  We were fascinated to watch the one in front play with a softball sized rock in his trunk, rolling it up, knocking it on the cement, putting it in his mouth, over and over, with slight variations each time.

There were three kinds of lemurs in this enclosure, all very active, apparently unaware that they were in a cage or being viewed.

This possibly shows 1/3 of the giraffe quarters.  I liked the chocolate color of the guy on the far right…  but I didn’t have time to really get to know him.

Another visitor to the zoo who was only there for the warm rocks.

The hippos were all crammed into one corner for feeding time.  I don’t recall seeing hippos out of water and was rather shocked by their layers and folds.  Very plump!

There are a large variety of birds in the zoo, but most of it was blocked for remodeling.  This fellow looks quite military.

This one looks like aliens I’ve seen in the movies.

I know how this one is feeling about his hair…

This crane was all arrogant crankiness.  “Just take your picture, then, and let me get back to my nap.”

The Asian sun bear was showing off.

I enjoyed the vibrant rusty orange of this animal.

This monkey seemed to be hunting bugs among the wildflowers, leaving the standard zoo fare alone.

This was labeled “jungle fowl.”  Really.  I will never look at my chickens that same way again.

This white rhino seemed to want me to know that I should be in dread fear of him, and he is right.  There was no sense of warm cuddlies from him.

And here we are “in” North America with the wolves.  Seeing them up close makes me even less fond of the idea of repopulating my backwoods with them.  The only animal we didn’t go see were the horses.  Greg said we have some of those in our backyard and it wasn’t worth the walk.

We ended our visit to Taipei by going to the Ziga Zaga Club in the Grand Hyatt Hotel.  This was the hotel we stayed in for our first three weeks in Taipei, when we were looking for an apartment to live in, but we never went to the clubs then, other than to glance into them.  The Grand Hyatt is right behind the Taipei World Trade Center, that Greg worked at on Friday, so not very far away from our hotel this time.  There was an excellent live band and a lot of tables filled with people for a Tuesday night.  Greg and I put on our barefoot shoes, mine being a version of this, and showed what we are made of, just like on the cruise ship, when I also danced for hours in these Vibrams.  Vibrams are the only way to dance!