Second Race Barefoot (5 miles!)

Idecided, almost at the last minute, to do the Gulf Winds 5m/10m Challenge on 12/4. I was hemming and hawing about whether to do it barefoot or not (the longest I've run BF is 6.5 miles, some of it on grass, so Iwas worried about going that far on pavement and trying to "race"). Itook my VFFs to the race with me, but wore sweatpants over my shorts, with moccasins. Yes, old, floppy ankle-high ones! Everyone was looking at me when we picked up our packets, wondering whether Iwas going to race in them.

We headed up to the starting line around 7:55 for the race start.There were more people than Iwould have imagined; about 230. It was 34 degrees or so, but sunny. Everyone was freezing. The race was supposed to start at 8:00, so Itook off my shoes and my sweats. So now I'm standing on the cold pavement, barefoot, ready to go (Iwas plenty warm at that point). Twenty minutes later, we finally started, but by then my toes were cold and numb. Fortunately the rest of my body was plenty warm, so Ihoped that my feet would warm up as Iwent. There was no time for me to go back to the car for my VFFs at that point anyway, so Icould run in wet moccasins (dew) or barefoot. Ifigures what the hell, Imay as well just do it. So Idid.

Everyone started together, and the course was a loop (the 10-milers did two). When we started off, Ifelt great, but worried about the lack of ground feedback.I decided to take it pretty easy. The first mile was about 8:00 or so, which was really fast for me. In a 5k race I can maintain that pace with VFFs, but the lack of feedback really had me worried by then. Iknew it wouldn't last and just prayed Ididn't get frostbite! By the third mile I wasn't sure I was going to finish without blood. By this time the balls of my feet were going numb too, and the lack of feedback was maddening.The fourth mile headed onto a chip seal road and I thought, "Ha! Good day for this! I can't feel my feet at all!" Iwas wrong.Apparently, despite having numb feet, you can feel that stuff, and I believe it hurts worse whenyour feet are frozen! Iwimped out and got on the sidewalk. I stopped looking at my Garmin after the first mile because I was just trying to watch for glass in the road (the recycle guys had come on Thursday), and actually trying to meditate (pray?) to channel warmth to my feet. By the time we came off that road, I was chanting "Every step is a victory"with every step Itook. I was in pain and just wanted it to be over.My toes hurt so bad from the cold I was sure they were bloody stumps, despite the fact Ihad checked on them a few times by glancing down.

I turned off to finish the race, and spotted the clock:43:29. Ithought, "Holy, sh*t, Ican actually beat my goal!" so I sped up a little. I figured by this point it didn't matter one way or the other what my feet were like. Iwas dumb enough to use this race to try to seed for a 15k Iwant to do in March, and with that goal in site I went for it.I managed to finish with a time of 43:40 and got second in my age group. :-D

My feet looked fine other than dirt, so I went and put my sweats and (wet)moccasinsback on and hung out for awhile. since the mocs were wet, Iwent and put on the VFFs and my feet started warming up good after that.Suddenly Icould feel my toes again! But man, the balls of my feet were stinging. After an hour, Igot home and checked my feet again.Ihad a blood blister (my first ever!) on the ball of my left foot. Sorry TJ, if you're reading this it was not worthy of a photo.

Yeah, lack of feedback will really kill you, but sometimes it's OK. I'm walking a little lightly today, but Istill have the big goofy grin on my face for beating my goal by more than one second. And, the Christmas tree ornament Iwon is hanging on the tree. :)

Comments

I love that despite how rough it was, you still ended up pulling a PR. Doesn't that make you want to go BF-only to get tougher AND faster? Thanks for the story!
 
Joshh,

You are SOright - it makes me even more proud to have achieved my goal! Iam still a little tender two days later, but Ithink it's worth it (and I've still got the goofy grin whenI think about the race). :)

Thanks for reading!
 
Good for you Hmduey! Though I think it's not good to crush the envelope every time we run, it's good for the soul to go for it once in a while. What would your strategy be were you faced with the same scenario now? I can't believe that there's not a way to achieve good foot warmth to get one through a run like that more in touch with the ground.
 
JT, that's a great question and I've given it a LOT of thought over the last few days. Ithink the biggest thing Iwould change would be to leave my moccasins and sweats on until they were talking on the bullhorn. The biggest problem here was that I had to stand around for 20 minutes when I was expecting less than five. In freezing temperatures it doesn't take long to cool down. I think also, instead of wearing shorts, Iwould have gone ahead and worn tights. I live in FL, so we don't often need tights even in the dead of winter (and then only for a week or so), but Ithink Iwould have had less heat escaping had my legs been warm.

Ithink those are the two biggest things; Iwould run it barefoot again though, without hesitation. Iwould not have run the 10-miler in that weather though!

One other thing I'm considering is moccasins with a rubber sole (as much as Ihate them). The ones I was wearing got wet with dew, and so they were starting to lose their effectiveness anyway. If they'd been dry, Ithink it would have been better for me (especially if I'd kept them on longer).
 

Blog entry information

Author
hmduey
Views
47
Comments
4
Last update

More entries in Community Blogs

More entries from hmduey