Report on Tampa Chapter Inaugural Meet-up

Saturday, 27 August, the Florida-Tampa Chapter of the Barefoot Runners Society had its inaugural meet-up and barefoot run. We met at 0900 on Bayshore Blvd, right next to Hillsborough Bay, within spitting distance of downtown Tampa. The piece of concrete we ran on is used by hundreds of runners everyday due to its convenient location and excellent view of both the Bay and the city. Parking consists of a decent size dirt lot known as Bayshore Patriot's Corner.

Five out of eleven current Chapter members participated. One even came from as far as Siesta Key (over an hour away) to run with us for our first meet-up. As each person parked we met next to the Bay and spent some time getting to know each other and determining what the various skill/experience levels were in terms of barefoot running. The experience level was pretty high for most folks but we had one Chapter member that came out who had only been barefoot running for about a month and was coming back from an ankle fracture. He was up to about a mile and a half barefoot so he did half of the three mile run the rest of us did. He did great with that mile and a half and kudos to him for coming out for the 1st Chapter meet-up.

When we began running the heat was about 84 degrees but the heat index was in the mid-90s. Once we finished the run the temperature had gone up to 87 degrees with the heat index over 100 degrees. It was really hot! When we got back we agreed that it probably makes sense to meet up an hour earlier, at 0800, the next time we meet. Hopefully the parking situation will allow meeting earlier considering other running clubs also use this stretch of sidewalk and parking area to meet up for their runs.

Following the run we cooled down then walked across the street to Pach's Place diner for some brunch and conversation.

Overall it was a great inaugural meet up and all the members seemed motivated. I think if we can harness this motivation to draw in other members this will be a very dynamic chapter. The Tampa area has some beautiful places to run between the beaches, trails, and urban routes so finding places to run probably won't be an issue yearround.

For more information related to running on Bayshore Blvd see: http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=7053

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Warren Dickey
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