This week went quite well. Total milage was 12.1 and on Sunday I ran the Charm City St. Patty’s Day 5k in Baltimore MD, Barefoot.
I began running completely and solely Barefoot on January 10th, 2010. Since then I have followed the 1/8th of a mile up to 3 miles and then the 10% rule up until last Thursday when I ran my furthest distance of 4.5 miles. 2 months in, my feet feel great and my form continues to improve every day. I thought singing up for this 5k would be a bit ambitious, but it turned out to be a great success.
Since I had already done 3.1, I wasn’t too worried about the distance, but more about the course. Amazingly enough, the streets of Baltimore were so smooth and BF friendly I actually spent less time dodging debris and more time running. My biggest obstacle was dancing around people and concentrating on keeping my form up with all the “attention.”
So I wore my VFF’s to the start, 15 minutes before the gun, I disrobed and left my stuff with the GF. The comments began in a flutter. All good, but plenty of questions even at the start line. I felt good defending our running choice and felt like I was educating along the way.
The race was hardly that. 4,500 people in a 5K was more like a drunk green party than a race. I of course started back in the pack not to be ambitious. Up until this point, with all my road hazards at home and fear of re-injury, i haven’t zenthed the 10 minute mile. Since the begging was a party I did the first .2-.3 miles in about 10:30 min miles with the pack and finished the last 2.9 miles at an 8:57 a mile pace. (i laped myself after the first wave of almost walkers was behind me) I basicly broke loose, felt the form and let go. It was a blast.
I finished overall with a time of 29:27 which was 9:28 miles. I wasn’t even shooting for a good time, but I was very happy with my pace overall.
Comments: oh so many. As I passed many people (a product of being so far back in the field) I heard the entire spectrum of comments. Only one couple ran beside me for a spell asking me some questions, truly interested.
Overall it was a great race. This race game me so much inspiration, I can’t wait to get back out and do another race. I’ve already scheduled a 10k for late April, but I have the itch now.
Long Live Barefoot Runners!
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