I managed to keep the calf intact for Paris Marathon; there was a strict ‘no barefoot’ policy in the couple of weeks leading up to the race.
The race passed in a fairly predictable manner; unusual for a marathon. My build up had been shorter than planned due to illness at the beginning of the year and I wasn’t expecting to break any records.
It is strange, the expectations we have and how we feel about the outcomes we get. I remember some years ago running a marathon PB and being so distraught afterwards that I nearly threw myself into the River Thames (I was aiming to be 20 minutes faster). At Paris I ran my slowest road marathon ever and was pretty pleased. It wasn’t easy though, I was reminded (yet again) what a brutal event the road marathon is.
After some deliberation, I ran the race in some lightweight racers, the excellent Zoot Ultra Race 2.0 (more on this shoe later). What this proved to me is that even though my barefoot running is quite minimal (pun intended), it has allowed me to completely change the type of shoe that I can now run in. I hope and believe that this confirms that my running action has been improved too.
Now that the marathon is out of the way, and the good weather is well and truely here, I will get back to more barefoot running and continue my exploration of the benefits and/or dangers of running without shoes.
Last 2 weeks total miles (inc marathon): 75
Barefoot miles: 0
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