Run the Rocks 5K By Barefoot Mary

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Run the Rocks 5KBy Barefoot Mary
The day started clear and cold...much colder than it has been in Colorado, since I moved here 4 weeks ago. It is a true sign that the fall is setting in.

I crawled out of bed shivering at 7 a.m. with 10 hours of weekend sleep under my belt and a stomach rumbling for food. I took down a couple glasses of water as my (dear, sweet, roadie-like) husband fixed me a light protein shake with frozen blueberries in the blender. I had allowed myself a “real meal,” since there would be no running until 9:30 a.m., a blessedly late race time if I ever heard one. I downed a cup of black tea – my morning feeding ritual complete – popped in my contacts and pulled on a Michigan State t-shirt. I had to represent the team that had beaten University of Michigan the day before. (GO GREEN!!!) A little Great Lakes Spirit in the middle of the desert.

I devised an ankle strap for my chip timer with a long Goody hairband and triple-checked the bag for my Vibram KSOs...an emergency comfort in case there was any gravel on the course. We popped new batteries into the camera, filled a 2-liter Coke bottle with tap water, and we were good to go!

The drive from Arvada (my home) to Morrison Colorado was very short, and in our groggy haze, we watched the mountains get closer and closer. The day was gray and cloudy, threatening rain, and it put a damper on the familiar vista view. I rubbed my legs to keep them warm and stared out the window into the endless grassy mountain fields near the city of Golden. In 15 minutes flat, we were crawling with our race companions in a drive up into Red Rock Park.

Before the race was just a series of nervous trips to the restroom and hopping up and down to R&B music blasting from the starting line. I wore socks and boat shoes for a while, then switched into my KSOs as the race approached. I was so lucky that I had brought them, since the first 200 yards of the race was pecked with gravel in the red dusty parking lot. It would've been lights-out for my feet without some protection starting out. I was very determined to run the rest of the race with naked soles, and it felt weird putting on the KSOs at my first accomplished barefoot race.

There wasn't a single other barefoot runner (that I could see) all day, and I only saw one woman sporting Vibrams, so I was quite alone and feeling very quirky. Good quirky. Not bad quirky! :)

I remember someone on the forum mentioning that they would rather be barefoot than wear Vibrams in a race because Vibrams get all the questions and comments from other runners (was it SayPay?...I think?) Anyway, YES. Spot on! As I waited behind the starting line, shifting from one foot to the other in utter nervousness, I got SO MANY questions about the Vibrams and discovered I had no heart to tell my fellow runners that...Yes, I like the VFFS. But I'm really running this race BAREFOOT.

So instead of telling them that, I described the many months of training that went into learning barefoot form, describing my newly spread toes and my super-ripped calf muscles.

One nice middle-aged lady told me, “It must be wonderful to run in those...Like you're wearing nothing at all!”

Another guy and his girlfriend caught my eye and asked if I'd run a half in them yet. “Nope. It took me 4 months to train to a 5K distance, but I'm planning on running a half in them (or...barefoot) someday.”

One stoic runner gal stepped lightly past me, saying in an...abrasive?...voice, “I don't know HOW you RUN in those!!” ...Well, I wasn't going to. I was going to run barefoot.

But with all this inner conflict aside, I was pumped, and I was ready. It took many months of slow building to get to this point: My First 5K barefoot race! And I was going to enjoy it!

With a peck and a hug from the husband I was off and running. They played “Let's Get it Started” by the Black Eyed Peas as all 1,000+ people shuffled through the starting gate.

My plan of keeping my KSOs for only a few yards worked perfectly. As I set off up the paved hill, past dogs and strollers and into the sea of runners, I took a few hops to peel the Vibrams off my feet, and with that I was free! The Vibrams would remain in my hands, my “hand weights” for the rest of the race.

It felt great to touch bare sole against the smooth paved road with lovely red rocks all around. Despite the care in which many of my fellow runners were walking up the hill (walking!?!?), saving themselves for the trying race ahead, I felt so good I tore through the crowd, weaving in and out like an imp in my bare feet, my navy blue nail polish glinting in the sun. It was very cold and windy, so I could quickly feel my feet going slightly numb. They would regain all of their lovely sensitivity in less than 1 mile. But in the meantime, I was feeling some cold I had never felt before, since I train in the afternoons mostly. So that was interesting.

The first half mile was cake, and I ate it up. I would later find it was one of the few somewhat flat places on the course. I tore through on pure built adrenaline from my 3 days of tapering, really enjoying myself and the glints of sun that had finally arrived over the vista of mountains and the deep valley below.

The crowd evened out, and (according to mapmyrun.com's elevation feature I used later) we began our steady descent into the aforementioned valley:

Starting Line Elevation: 6,400 feet to Elevation at Mile 2, in the depths of the valley: 5,900 feet

I quickly thanked my stars for the few times I had run down hills in my rather hilly neighborhood, as we made each switchback downwards 500 feet in about 1 mile's distance. I am now officially sick of running downhill, worrying about my heels pounding the pavement as I doubled my cadence like a cartoon character. It was really good practice but very difficult compared to my high-heeled companions who were slapping away as I silently concentrated on downhill form.

We evened out at the very bottom with breathtaking views of the red rock walls all around us (not to mention a breathtaking downhill run behind us). I encountered a nice lady who mentioned “Born to Run” to me and congratulated me on my bare feet, which was nice and welcome!

The pavement, as I predicted, was no problem, and I quickly got used to clutching m
y KSOs close by my sides in an easy run. There were patches of rock that I could skitter through and some older pavement with a rougher surface, but all of it was comfortable even to my fairly-new barefooting soles.

I found I would need that encouragement on the last leg of the race, as we rose again uphill 500 feet in our last mile of the race. Everyone could take the uphill for a while, but one by one, every person cracked. This was the moment I was reminded who had sponsored the race: Kaiser Permanente & the American Lung Association of Colorado. These are the same great organizations that put on the “Fight For Air” events with caring participants tearing up skyscraper stairwells in cities across the country.

We all found ourselves fighting for air between the high elevation and the constant, unending uphill climb. We were quickly reduced to a mass of walking, panting, huffing, puffing, moaning, groaning, gasping, zombies. Putting one foot in front of the other was proving difficult for even the most fit competitor. The best among us would walk for a bit, then sprint for a bit, then walk again. Others jogged at a walking speed, which is what I did for a long while. It is amazing that the first-place finisher completed the course in just a little shy of 19 minutes!

As if the climb was not enough, the road in this section of the course was the oldest and roughest without question.There were lots of exposed rocks and it was very bumpy. As we rose, I had to focus very hard on my form, making sure I didn't get blisters before I was through.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, we saw not a lovely plateau ahead but a long curving ramp that would take us straight up the side of the mountain of rock and into the backstage of the Red Rocks Amphitheater. This was the most difficult section, and by the time we hit the theater, everyone was walking (or limping, rather) up the stairs.

At the finish, we were greeted by music...and that reminds me to say ALL the bands who played for us throughout the course were awesome and very motivational! Two men carried a baby stroller to the top of the stadium between them, which seems unbelievable. I could hardly continue carrying my Vibrams at that point, and my feet were feeling tender. I spotted Matt with the camera at the end, and posed in exhaustion and good humor.

On my way to receive a medal, one gentleman asked me how I liked running in my Vibrams (again with the Vibrams!?! Come on! I'm barefoot here!!!) I thought it was really great that he asked that question as I had just completed the race so obviously barefoot.

Ultimate results:

35:40 according to my timing chip

89th out of the 198 women aged 20-29 competing!

I came out blister-free, but my calves would ache for the next few days (among other muscle groups) due to the climb. But it was really fun to see so many people leveled by a challenging course and for a good cause too!

It was a great day, and I'm very much considering going back to Run the Rocks next year.

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Thanks Abide!

Ineed all the tips I can get, I'm still discovering Colorado, and loving it!

Going to Garden of the Gods down in Colorado Springs this weekend...should be a really fun run/hike down there:)
 
Sounds like a fun place. Garden of the Gods is pretty sweet too. I would like to point out that vista means view in spanish, so vista view is redundant. Cool race though, and interesting that people would ask you about the vibrams even when you weren't wearing them.
 
Awesome!!! Thanks for the pics and so enjoyed your commentary! I'm a frequent visitor to CO, have been there a couple times in the summer and many times over the holidays (winter) to the Vail/Edwards area. Never been to Red Rocks. FYI: re: that frozen blueberry protien shake you had for breakfast, the wild blue berries and other berries also, are awesome in the summer time in CO. but you probably already know that. Yo can literally pick them right off the highway, usually near a creek or river. Enjoy!
 
Hey Mary,



Iam originally from Colorado. Moved to Florida in 1998 -- Thanks for sharing your run and your pictures -- was great to see Redrocks again!!! I am planning a trip back out the next summer to get some trail running, rafting, mountain biking, hot springing, 14rs, and some Denver eating! Have you been to Jerusalems yet to eat???



Steve
 
Hey Mary,

Congratulations on the 5K, and more importantly, congratulations on moving to CO. On our vacation to CO this summer, we drove through Arvada on our way up to Boulder. Colorado is definitely my favorite state, and thankfully, our 6 year old son was able to appreciate it, too.

As far as the Spartans. Us Wolverines own the 20th century. I guess it's too much to ask that we dominate in the 21st century, too.

M Go Blue!!!

Matt