The Run Smiley Collective

Acts of Running Desperation

2012-02-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

I've sort of unofficially signed on to this 120 Day Challenge that Kate, Jason, Vanessa, and a bunch of the other crazy blogging-runners I virtually associate with have cooked up. The idea is to run every day for 120 days without missing a day. Since one DOES need to rest and recover somewhat, the minimum per day is set very low: 1 mile, and it doesn't have to be all at once.

I say I've "sort of unofficially signed on" because I know that I'm not going to make all 120 days. Running every day of the week is easy, since its my commute, but fitting in even 10 minutes of running on the weekends with two kids is not always possible. Not that it is impossible, but I know I lack the will to always fit in a run alongside everything else we're doing on a packed Saturday and Sunday; since I don't want to have my running inconvenience my already over-worked partner, if I'm not taking both kids out in Bowser, that means running after everyone is asleep, and that takes an obscene amount of will-power. I'm hoping to do two runs on the weekends, since a minimum of 1 mile really does only mean 7 to 10 minutes, but I'm going into this with realistic expectations. Starting a challenge knowing you aren't going to fulfill it does seem a bit cheap, and giving myself that sort of lee-way from the start makes it more likely that I'll give ground when I wouldn't otherwise, as less is at stake, but there it is.

***

Today was day 10, and so far I've only missed 1 day -- Angelica's birthday -- and that was filled with visitors, last-minute shopping, and cake. Today was going to be my first day of running the minimal 1 mile; I've got parent-teacher conferences until 6:30 at night, so I decided to bike to school and squeeze in a quick, 10 minute run at lunch. But when I finally shoved all my students out of my class and dug into my backpack, I discovered I'd left ALL my running gear at home. I was wearing my Altra Instincts as my walking-around shoes, but my shirt and shorts were sitting back at home on my dresser.

My first thought: "Dammit, I really wanted to go for a quick run."

My second thought: "I could run a mile in my jeans and t-shirt"

My third thought: "It really, really sucks to run in jeans."

Then: "I do have that old pair of dress pants that don't really fit . . ."

So I slipped into the faculty bath-room and used my leather-man to hack the legs off an old pair of twill pants -- instant running shorts!

I shoved the shredded lower-halves of the legs into the garbage, pulled on my arm-sleeves and head-scarf, and headed out into a slight drizzle. I had an undershirt on, so I slipped off my tee as soon as I was at the end of the block, and ran in the most unusual combination of cut-off twill slacks, grey tank-top undershirt, and Pearl Izumi arm-sleeves.

I hadn't worked out a route at all, so I just ran by my watch: knowing my slowest running wouldn't be more than a 10 minute mile, I just had to run 5 minutes then turn around. Of course, running only 5 minutes is pretty hard, since one's just warming up, so I didn't turn around until 8. I'd done a real slow jog out, since this one-mile day was supposed to functionally be an "off" day, but heading back I felt I wanted to squeeze something into this small space, so I sprinted back, covering the same distance in just under 6 minutes. Checking later, I did about 1.8 miles.

Then it was back to the regularly scheduled day. Back in the faculty bath-room I changed out of my cut-offs into an un-butchered pair of kakis, then pulled on a pin-stripe shirt, vest, and bow-tie in order to be ready for parent-teacher conferences. And now I have a pair of "running shorts" stashed in the closet of my room . . .

(originally posted @...whenitalkaboutrunning)

The Canadian Death Race: All Signed Up and Ready To Roll

2012-02-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

I have never really been one for nicknames, yes I do have a hasher name and a lot of people have affectionately started calling me 'Barefoot Bob' or 'Barefooting Bob'. But the one nickname that has intrigued me over the last couple of years is 'Death Racer', I don't know why it just sounds like a really cool moniker to put after your name, "Barefoot Bob - Death Racer", or the affiliation, Barefoot Bob D.R. (the letters should go after the name don't want to be confused as a Doctor or something) . It just oozes cool, right. I thought so.

If you are unfamiliar with the moniker, then what hole has your head been stuck in for the last 11 years (just kidding your head could of been stuck in a paper bag too I guess, I am not out to offend anyone here). The 'Death Racer' is the moniker given to the few who have ran one of the hardest ultra marathons in Canada, 'The Canadian Death Race', a 125km trek through the mountains around the sleepy town of Grand Cache, AB every August long weekend. This race consists of extreme mountain trails, three mountain summits, 17,000 ft of elevation change, one major river crossing and the ever constant possibility of encountering wildlife in their natural habitat (including grizzly bears, cougars, etc), remember we are entering their domain not the other way around. This run is a premier event and will test the best of the best to their limits, and has been on my bucket list as a 'One Day' since I started running. Well, that 'one day' has happened, Nicole and I along with another friend (Dan) have signed up for the relay event this summer. It's kind of a interesting story how it all transpired, two weeks ago, I never would of guessed we would be planning our trip to Grand Cache this summer to take part in this awesome event.

It all started last week when Nicole mentioned that it would be fun to see if we could put a team together for the CDR relay, now I will admit at the time I did not take her to seriously because the Death Race is a huge endeavour to undertake without a lot of commitment. Of course, I said yes we should look into that, half thinking that the idea would dissipate in a few days, but to my surprise Nicole kept bringing it up and there was obvious research being done. Suddenly by the weekend, I was picking the brain of a friend who had partaken in the event last year, we were making arrangements for my parents to watch the kids while we attended the training camp in June on Monday, we were scheduling vacations around June and the race event in August by Tuesday, crap this was turning into more than a possibility the anticipation was becoming pretty intense. Suddenly Nic and I were frantically trying to find some more crazies who wanted to get in on our little adventure lined up. I'm not sure whether the majority thought we were kidding or something because we did get some interest then they researched a little further and the maybe's quickly became no's. This was kind of expected, it not easy to get past the thought of running this event with all the challenges that you would face, but then I got a message from a fellow hash house harrier, with a short and sweet, "I'm in". I did a double take, and quickly sent a response back to Dan to confirm if he was serious, he was, and suddenly we were three. With this confirmation I jumped to the computer and the application process was on. Hoping that we would get another interested party prior to me sending in the application and making payment to round out our team, but not really expecting it, I felt we could not wait any longer, because there was only limited spots and I didn't want to miss out on getting in.

So on Wednesday night I signed us up as a team of three, called "What Were We Thinking?", consisting of Nicole, Dan and myself. It was a good thing I did not wait to long, because low and behold Thursday morning early the run was sold out, now all that remained were some lottery spots, and we did not have to leave it to chance, cause we were in. Now the funny thing with all this, was once you are registered with the numbers of your team you cannot change the numbers, so our team of three could not add a runner, nor can we delete a number. This was ironic because I was contemplating signing up a friend who I did not hear back from before I hit send just in case but figured it would not be a good idea in case he did not want to run. I didn't want to be stuck with three members in a registered four member team. Of course as luck would have it, I hear from our friend the next day and he wants in on the race, not only him but I hear from 2 other friends that would like to run it as well. Crap, wouldn't you know it, I was stuck telling these guys that they were two late, maybe next year. I felt bad, but honestly not for long as the smile grew onto my face once again, I'm going to run the Death Race.

Go Death Racer, Go.

So here we were three runners from Manitoba, going to tackle one of the hardest Ultra Marathons in Canada, no pressure. The description of the legs as defined by 'The Canadian Death Race Website is as below, as for the sequence of runners it follows:

First leg, 19 km: The Downtown Jaunt

Approximately 6 km of pavement initially, followed by trail and 3.5 km of gravel road. It includes a net elevation loss of 500 feet, rolling hills with flat sections, several creek crossings and one significant downhill. The course will start in downtown Grande Cache and the race officially begins at the 5 km mark, after passing the Grande Cache Saddle club. It then continues past Grande Cache Lake and Peavine Lake, mainly on quad trails and including a section along a ridge with a spectacular view of Peavine Lake and the mountains of Willmore Wilderness Park. After crossing Washy Creek and skirting the north end of the CN rail yard through a deep mud bog, enter the first full aid station and relay exchange zone. Cut off Time: 12 Noon

This leg will be ran by me, I will be running this barefoot at least that is the plan as it stands.

Second leg, 27 km: Flood & Grande Mountain Slugfest Includes about.1 km of pavement. The rest is dirt trail with rocky and swampy sections, and approximately 6 km of hard packed dirt road.. Net elevation gain is 500 feet, but the total elevation change is well over 6000 feet. This leg of the race is characterized by long sustained climbing with about 3 km of very rough terrain and two creek crossings. The trail from the summit of Flood Mountain to the summit of Grande Mountain is the roughest piece of trail in the Death Race. The power line down the front of Grande Mountain leading back into town is the most dangerous part of the entire course. This is due to the steep, rocky drop-offs and unstable footing while running downhill. The Slugfest is the most technical section and is rated the second hardest leg of the Death Race (although many rate this leg as the hardest of all). Cut off Time: 6 pm

This leg will be ran by Dan, he will be our anchor to get Nicole to the downhill portion.

Third leg, 21 km: Old Mine Road (or “City Slicker Valley”) Includes 5 km of pavement: the rest is dirt road with several creek crossings. One creek runs right down the trail as you descend the first part of the Mine Road., making for very slippery, rocky terrain for 30 meters. This section passes through the lowest point in the race, hitting the very bottom of the Smoky River valley floor, with knee deep water for 25 meters. (If it’s a wet summer, it's worse.) With a net elevation loss of about 1000 feet, this section is the fastest and easiest of the race and one of the most beautiful, offering stunning views of the Smoky River valley. Cut off Time: 7 pm

This leg will be ran by Nicole, with the expectation that she will be able to pick up some time on the downhill portion, because I am going to need it for the next leg.

Fourth leg, 36 km: Hamel AssaultThis is mostly dirt trail and hard packed gravel. While the net elevation gain is zero, the total elevation change is well over 6500 feet, which comes practically all at once. The ascent of Mount Hamel (elevation: 6,986 feet) is broken into two very long climbs, with one small reprieve as you gain the shoulder of the mountain at the mid-point. You will pass the Hamel Escape station where racers can bail out if they've had enough. At the forestry tower on the summit of Mount Hamel runners check in and then continue toward the spectacular cliff bluffs at Hell's Canyon, where they must retrieve a prayer flag as proof they have made the turnaround point. The descent is strewn with boulders and deep ruts. The downhill is not that technical, but any falls will be on very unforgiving ground. (Read the waiver section about being in remote areas and not being rescued in time to prevent serious injury or death.) This entire leg is fantastically scenic. Cut off Time: 4:15 am

I will be tackling this leg, I love running hills, it tests the core to no end. Now I know this is a mountain and not just a hill, but I will be running this with a smile from ear to ear. And yes, I will be wearing shoes for this one, probably a pair of Minimus (I am going to throw some plugs to some friends to see if I can get a pair to test, shhhh don't tell anyone).

Fifth and final leg, 24km, The River CrossingIncludes 1 km pavement, 6 km gravel road, and a river crossing. The rest dirt trail, grass, and single track. Net elevation change of over 2500ft. This section runs from the Northwest end of the Hell’s Gate Access Road southward to the Sulphur Gates Road, across from the Hell’s Gate emergency aid station. It crosses the Hell’s Gate road and heads down to the Boat Launch road . Runners will be ferried across the Smoky River. There is an emergency aid station on the west bank of the river. From the raft crossing, racers will proceed up the east shore of the Smoky River and follow the trail to the Sulphur Rim trail. The course passes the Firemen's park, heads up Firemen's Park Road and continues to the Finish line in the Grande Cache town square. Please note: For most runners this leg will be completed in darkness with much of the trail under a heavy canopy of trees, so eye protection is required. Although this section is well marked with reflective markers, flags and signs, we recommend you bring a halogen headlamp with brand new alkaline batteries. Daylight training on this part of the course is highly recommended.
Last boat: 6 am End of Race: 8 am Course closes: 9 am

The last leg is going to ran by Nicole, she really wants to do the Smoky River Crossing, my only concern is she will be running this at night. But I know I will be so proud of her when she crosses that finish line.

Just to give you a true picture of what the elevation changes are like take a look at the following:

Death Race Course Elevation/Distance Profile

Doesn't it look fun.

Anyway, training for this run is going to be very important, we are going to need every advantage, so we are also signing up for the Death Race training camp in June, so we get a first hand look at what we are getting ourselves into. Over the weekend we will see every inch of the course either with mountain bike, running it or hiking it. All valuable knowledge, because to come not prepared to a race like this is a recipe for a DNF. While just being involved with the race is going to be great, I am not going to settle for anything less than a finish time, because that is just how we roll. Look out Grande Cache we are coming to see ya this summer.

Also want to send a shout out to another Winnipeg runner, who I had the pleasure to run with last summer. Mark will be tackling the Death Race solo, how about that, and you thought we were crazy. This will be his first visit to the Death Race, I know he is going to kill the course.

On that note, I want to leave you with some outtakes from the 2010 race for your viewing pleasure. This will be a prelude to the pictures and video taping I hope to be doing throughout the race. I am hoping to borrow a friend's strap on video camera for the race, and if I can manage it I hope to take some good footage along the way.

Happy Running and

Go Death Racers!!

Ice Donkey 2012 - The Spirit of Youth (A Story of Perseverance)

2012-02-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

Prelude: This is a report my beautiful wife wrote about a very unique race series that takes place in Winnipeg, MB Canada every year. It is called Ice Donkey, basically it is a series of winter outdoor endurance sports that are all put together in one race. This is also with a bit of a twist, a couple of friends of ours have two very determined daughters (one is 13 the other is 12), who also wanted to compete. Now imagine two young teens getting up at 5:00 am on a Sunday in the dark and the cold, preparing for a morning of endurance racing. Honestly, I did not partake in this race because I wasn't sure how I would do, and did not want to not finish and I really hate cold skates. So the team called 'The Young Pups' showed up and rocked the course, not finishing before the cutoff time sure, but they still were determined to finish, and they did, with the full support of the race organizers, volunteers as well as a good amount of the race participants.

This is a story that I think amplifies the true spirit of racing and competition, everybody is a winner whether you finish in a record time or just finish. Getting out there and doing it is half the battle, and these two incredible girls radiated that determination. I also commend Gail and Colin and also my wife Nicole for encouraging them along their path to the end. Just think could you put 16 miles of winter endurance sports (biking, snow-shoeing, running and ice skating) together with no training at the ages of 12 and 13 respectively. I can tell you I probably would not of. The Young Pups, 'Rock'.

Enjoy and Run Smiley:

My Ice Donkey Race Report

This is going to be a bit different today, because today was a bit different.

Wow what an incredible day! Today I took the opportunity to join some friends and run (and bike, snowshoe and skate) Ice Donkey! An awesome event put on by some great race director/ and officials, and how do I even begin to tell you about the volunteers? Maybe I should mention that we were the very last team out there, we did not make the finish time, in fact by the time we finished we were 45 minutes over what the posted time was; and they were still there!(SMILING!) There was some thought of closing the course, but they chose not to after seeing how much work and effort this team was making. They let them finish. The team was made up of two strong, young ladies (12 & 13 years of age!)Their team was called ‘Young Pups’; they were followed along by ones’ father, ones’ mother, and a friend. When the event was finished by this team and they finally made their way into the area of the forks where the awards had been held, a crowd was there to greet these young ladies with applause for their finish. It brought tears to their mothers’ eyes! What an awesome day! (This is one of the things I love so much about running, the heart of other runners!)

In following this bunch I was amazed at what lessons I learned! Today I was a student being mentored in many things by both the parenting skills of my friends and undertaking of this event by their children. Here are a few that stand out to me:

1. When you fall down, get back up! Every time! (After a display of this skill I also had the chance to put it into practice! Yes, I practiced several times)

2. Perseverance,…. Keep going, sometimes it is just one foot in front of the other, until you are done

3. Endurance; the thesaurus says- staying power, survival, fortitude, continued existence (I saw every definition of these words on display today as I watched the parents and the girls provide an awesome example of this)

4. Encouragement; I watched two parents encourage their children down a very difficult road (covered in ice, and snow) with grace and elegance, putting their own competitive spirits on hold to let their children feel out their abilities and find their own competitive spirit

5. Patience as their children were discovering their abilities

6. How to have fun with your children

7. How to coach your kids, and then let them find their own way!

8. Wind breaking. Did you know that the one, who rides their bike first in line, breaks the wind for those behind? Well I do now, great job parents! Apparently it also works for skating I found out later in the morning!

By the way, when it was all done, that was 16 miles these young ladies pulled out of their hats, and they only signed up last week!

Later I will get into the race itself, you know, the funny stuff… like the comment, ‘I don’t ever look at the map in the city race, there’s always someone to follow’ hahahaha. The grueling stuff…. Biking on snow and ice?! Oh, and the burrs! (You know those round prickly seed things that stick to you when you’re in the forest) The touching stuff….. Seeing the parents encouraging their children to an awesome finish.

I would like to send out a HUGE thank you to all who organized this race and all who volunteered. A great and amazing job you all did.

Have a great day; you never know what you’ll learn if you’re heart is open to it.

Nicole

Ending the Winter Hiatus

2012-02-06T11:47:00.000-08:00

December was kind of full. Not only was work piling up, but I'm also involved in a chamber choir and various vocal ensembles. So with 12 concerts booked, including a short tour in Holland, I had to fight to keep the running in the calendar.

But hey! Why fight? There's a certain kind of satisfaction in relaxing for a while as well! If nothing else it can work as a sanity check: will I miss running as much as I think after a month of resting? If I don't miss it I may have forced the training on myself. And if I miss it, well, it's going to be damn sweet to get going again!

So instead of agonizing I took December as a natural winding down, and from Christmas I did a grand total of four, count 'em, four runs. And yes, I gained in weight. And yes, it felt brilliant!

(And for the sanity check? Yes, I missed running. A lot. )

Now, real winter have finally come to Sweden and the last weeks of January the temperatures plunged well below zero degrees C and the snow came to stay. Hm... Clearly I needed some kind of plan to get started again. I though and pondered and scratched my beard.

Here's what I came up with: My inaugural run in in 2012 would be in London as I would be there for a few days, and after that I would immediately buy a pair of winter running shoes, with studs. Think of it as a double whammy, get to run in London again and then get to be excited over a piece of new equipment. (Who, me? Nerd? Nooo...)

Weaving my way past pedestrians in Earls Court a Monday afternoon brought back memories. The delicate winter-blue sky, the perfect running temperature, the cabs and the pubs. Thinking about it I realized it was eleven years since I ran in London last. The sheer force of nostalgia powered me on the first two kilometers to Hyde Park.

Albert Memorial, Hyde Park

Hyde Park. It is a special place for anyone who have lived in London. Sure, we've got plenty more green areas in Stockholm, and sure, compared to the size of the city, it isn't that large or that spectacular. But for someone who has lived in London it is still magical. Padding across it a winter afternoon as it slowly got dark was magical and I found myself doing a bit some fartleks just for the sheer joy of it.

Inspired I promptly went to the local shop when I came home and bough myself a pair of Icebug Anima. Icebug's a Swedish company that started doing really minimal trail running shoes but are now mostly known in Sweden for their superior winter running shoes. The Animas is no exception: with nineteen carbide studs per shoe the grip is, in one word, awesome.

So here's me having discovered the joy of winter running: A few layers of merino wool and head lamp and Icebugs, on the trails in the snow on the ice, and loving every second of it! Granted, the eight millimeter drop is more than I've used to by now, but so far I've managed to keep my form, and the awesomeness of the grip they provide makes up for any awkwardness by a long shot.

Icebug Anima BUGrip

As far as I'm concerned the winter can stay a few months now: I having damn fun!

Thinking deep thoughts and getting back to training

2012-02-04T05:24:00.001-08:00

So I spent the last two months of 2011 in a chair in front of a computer. I mean, I ran my mud race in November, sat down and didn't get back up until Jan 5th (wrote a paper and defended some research, got a Master's degree). I like to say I did a Scott Jurek.

Now I'm moved to another state and getting ready to put my body back in order. I've run 6 times since Nov and rode a bike 7 miles the other day. That's not much exercise. I'm going to pick a couple of races to run during Spring and Summer and start my training.

I really started running less than a year and a half ago. I've discovered that I love it and that it makes my life better in many ways. I've had people comment that I'm nicer when I'm routinely running and my daughter actually told me to go for a run when I was grumpy one day. My thing is that writing about running motivates me and it's rewarding to hear from people that it helps motivate them. This is really a rough time to convince myself to get out of bed early enough to get the morning run in and of course it doesn't help that it feels like I'm starting from scratch.

One of the things that always amazes me is that people think you have to have a particular kind of body or have some innate love of running to do things like a marathon or ultra. The truth is just about anyone can go from little or no running to half marathon or more. It's all mental. The real problem for most people is not their knees or arches, although that's what they'll talk about. The real problem is that people think running sucks! It's uncomfortable, it's tiring, it hurts. I think that just means you're doing it wrong!

Not every person who goes out to run a race is going to win right? So especially when you are just going into it, why train as though that's the goal. The goal is to finish the race and have a good time doing it. That's my goal for training as well. Of course I push myself, but the truth is if a run is truly miserable, or if running routinely becomes miserable, I'll drop it like a guinea pig peeing in my hand.

Exercise is supposed to make your life better. It cleanses the mind and helps put things in perspective. It's great time for deep thinking, or hanging out with someone. In a world where every thought is about to be interrupted by the ring of a phone or ding of a message, it may be one of the only places our phones have not infiltrated (I stopped by a restaurant restroom the other day in which the guy on the pot was chatting on the phone).

Now is the time to start training for the Spring/Summer race season. Let me know what you are running, biking, mudding.

Good running everybody!

2012-02-02T22:48:00.001-08:00

[Better] News From The Canyons

2012-01-30T09:13:00.001-08:00

After saddening news of hunger and despair following the severe draught that struck the Copper Canyons of Mexico, it seems hope is back and spirits are lifted among the great Running People.

Last weekend was a major Rarajipare, the traditional Raramuri sport, held between the Batopilas and the Urique canyon clans. Not only is it great to know the Raramuri keep this great tradition alive, but it also warms the heart to know that, thanks to donations from all over the world, including yours, over 10 tons of food were offered as prize to the people.

Caballo Blanco addressed the crowd at the awards ceremony and told them :

“Eres Raramuri: You are the running people. You are the messengers. You bring the good news to your communities. It is your responsibility to be sure that all the people in your communities have enough food, nutrition for the old ones, the babies, the ones without the strength that you possess.

Caballo has 200 costales [10 tons] of maize [food value] in my pocket. Muy peasado! [Very heavy].....IT... is bettter to give it away to lighten my load. Share this amongst your communities. Andale y hasta la 4 de Marzo"

This will bring some much-needed, immediate relief in the canyons and fares well for the incoming big event, the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon 2012, where all Raramuri runners are invited to run and win some maize for their community.

There is still time to contribute to the food relief fund. The campaign will close this Friday, Februrary 3^rd, as I leave for Urique. If you haven’t contributed yet, please consider giving some of your money to help the Raramuri thrive. As little as 25$ buys a costale of maize.

You can make your donation here.

Kuira Ba,

Flint

Taunting the Emergency Room

2012-01-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

So today, I decided to ignore my running clinics advice and I went for a run. I was feeling rotten and was planning only a 2 mile loop. The route was so beautiful in the snow --snow is unusual for Vancouver -- that I popped back to the car and picked up my camera. I was of course forced to stop occasionally and take photo's.

The trail was quite deceptive. A few days of snow-> thaw->freeze->snow, meant that there was a thin layer of ice over all of the trail and then a light dusting of snow over the top. As the trail was rocky to start off with, this was an feat of bravery. I am so glad I am a minimalist runner as I am not sure I would have managed the two loops without proprioception. Barefoot runners are not perturbed by ice.

Ice just allows the run to be more fun. This trail was such a blast I am going to try and break myself tomorrow. ;)

Here are some of the photo's I took from my run. Enjoy them and let's hope the trail is as much fun when I go back tomorrow.

Why You Must Give To The Raramuri

2012-01-16T07:28:00.000-08:00

Pretty much everybody knows by now that I will be running the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon in a couple weeks. It is a great adventure for me and a rare opportunity to meet the People and the place that has inspired my running for years. It’s downright extraordinary.

Every once in a while, I've asked for some donations to either help me finance my adventure and to bring some much-needed support to the Tarahumara (their real name is Raramuri) community. I have already used a good chunk of my own money to purchase some of the corn vouchers that the local runners will earn for themselves and their family at the event. A few friends and fellow runners have also pitched in, and I’m very thankful for their help.

But I need to do much better. We received very bad news this weekend about Raramuri people starving because of the severe draught Northern Mexico has been experiencing. There is a lot of distress and, for once, it’s absolutely possible to do something that really helps, right now.

So far, I was able to gather 700$, which I have decided to use 100% to contribute to the food support program for the Raramuri. I’ll travel on my own money. I want to take this into the thousands of dollars. Help me.

About 9 people have contributed to the “Contribute to the Dream” campaign, to date. I am humbly asking that ALL readers of this blog, fellow runners and everyone who can afford it make a donation, no matter how small. Only $25 buys a full costale (50kg) of corn. You don’t have $25? Donate $10.

How often were you offered the chance to really help someone in need? I’m not talking about some obscure, bureaucratic charity that spends 80% of your money in “administration” fees. I’m talking about a local initiative, where no one is paid, that uses the entire amount of contributions they receive to get food and resources for the people.

On February 4, I’ll leave Montreal with as much money in my pocket as I humanly can. I’ll travel down into the canyons and hand that money myself, directly to Caballo Blanco and the people that run the organization Norawas de Raramuri. I want some of these dollars to be YOUR dollars.

Because someone where I’m going is hungry. Because the great Running People of the canyons have inspired so many with their culture and unique way of life. Because every single person I know can afford at least a costale or two. Because it’s unacceptable to let a fellow human suffer. Because, for once, there IS something real we can do.

And most of all, because we are one.

Don’t click away from this.

Flint

UPDATE. We have gathered 1,000 kilos-worth of maize in 2 days. Thank you so much, and please help spread the word. I aim at several thousand kilos.

I will update the results of the campaign on Twitter until my departure for the Canyons, on February 4. Follow me at @flintportable !

Sweet Sweet Telephone Pole Shadow of Shady Goodness

2012-01-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Since here in Hawaii we don't believe in this "winter" some of the rest of you have it was pretty warm out the road today. Due to the warmth I decided I needed to document something I've noticed and I hope other runners have as well: The Sweet Sweet Telephone Pole Shadow of Shady Goodness.


I love you, Telephone Pole Shadow

You see, dear friends, there isn't a whole lot of shade on my normal run. I have to take what I can get. And what I can get in my last mile is evenly spaced telephone poles. Run at the right time of day, approx. 4pm it looks like, and you get shadows that line up juuuust right. Now, does this actually help? I wouldn't bet the money Tebow stole from me last Sunday on it. The temperature difference, if there is one at all, can't be more than a degree or two. But that's in real life. Runners do not run in real life. We run in Runner's World (we even have a magazine). And in Runners World shadows = shade = ahhhh, much better for the three second it takes to run through the shadows. Yes, I aim for the shadow. I run to it. And while I'm doing it I think, "This is so silly. There's no way this ahhhhhhhh, that's the stuff, I love you Telephone Pole shadawww it's gone."
Note: Street Sign Shadows deserve no love. Observe:

Fail, Street Sign Shadow. Fail.

Running Smiley with technology

2012-01-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

[Reposted from my blog http://barefootkatiek.blogspot.com]

This Christmas, Santa brought me a Garmin Forerunner 210. Yep, not quite what the Plenipotentiary
of “The Run Smiley Collective” should have had under her tree I admit. I should have a TUTU or a funny hat, but not technology. Isn’t that against everything the collective is about?! Have I abandoned my values?! Have I become a runner?!

In other news, I was talking to my good friend Jesse over Facebook a while back and aside from the usual nonsense we spout, like spy penguins taking over the world and Boobies, we talked a little bit about how as minimalist running has become more popular, people have decided to take minimalism a little TOO far in their running.

Minimalist runners are now abandoning watches, Garmin’s, iPod’s and anything else electrical as they run. I applaud this, however, my applause depends on their reasoning behind ditching the technology.

When I advocate ditching the technology, the reasoning is so that people are released from pace times, distances and weekly mileages and they experience the run for what it is. A joyful way of connecting to the way you move. If you are ditching the tech for THIS reason, then I say, “welcome to our merry band of misfit’s, please enjoy your stay”.

If you are ditching the technology because you feel it makes you better than everyone else –that by taking off the Garmin, you are becoming purer than your fellow minimalist runner- then please take a chill-pill and re-evaluate what’s important.

This seems to be a bit of a trend. People ditching the gadgets, not so they can connect with their run, but to be “more of a minimal runner than X”. This is just as wrong as wearing the Garmin and concentrating SO much on your pace that you ignore the flowers on your trail.

As Jesse said, (and I am paraphrasing here), “why can’t people just let everyone run the way they want to?”

And do you know what? He’s right!

So I am going to admit it. I like to run with an iPod. I have a play-list that I like to run with. Most of the time I only have one ear-bud in, but the music is still there. I may find a bit of fun trail and both ear-buds come out and I will have a blast, sometimes the ear-bud may be in for all of the run. Do I care? Not really.

This is the reason. I run with music, not because it makes me a better, faster runner. I run with music, because the songs I pick allow me to connect with my inner fun and with my friends. I will explain.

I have songs that remind me of friends, i.e.

“The Cave” by Mumford and Son’s, is my connection with Angie B.

“5 years time” by Noah and the Whale, reminds me of Shelly and Jason Robillard, and the rest of the “Hobby Jogga’s”

“Pirates of the Caribbean” by Lonely Island (currently) reminds me of Jesse.

I have songs that make me smile. The “Run Barefoot Girl” “Tick Tok” song always makes me laugh and I do a little dance in the middle. The “I am the Doctor” soundtrack makes me feel like I am being chased by aliens and I can’t help but do this without a grin on my face.

So has technology meant I fail to connect to the fun on my run? Nope. In fact they add to it. My friends are there when I want them and they don’t interfere when I am enjoying where I am on my run and if I am having too much fun in my run, they step away.

As for the Garmin? Am I going to use it to increase my VO2 Maxy thingie? Am I going to run harder and faster than everyone else? Am I going to brag that I run 3.2728 miles in 23 minutes and 45.3883 seconds? Nope.

I am getting the Garmin as an experiment. I want to see what the fuss is about and see if it’s truly useful. I want to play with it and see if it can add something interesting to my run’s. I want to see if some training plans work and if some don’t. I am being inquisitive and trying new things. I LOVE doing that. So why is that a bad thing? The Garmin is allowing me to be an engineer on my run; allowing me to tinker and test new solutions. I am adopting the same principles when I made my hacked minimal shoes, or when I retro-tweak a pair of minimal shoes so they fit how I like. Heck, it's either a Garmin on my run or a CISCO router, and trust me a Garmin is easier to carry.

So despite my “don’t let technology rule your run”, I think I agree with Jesse. If you want to wear an iPod or a Garmin, go ahead, just make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.

The Twitter Road Race

2012-01-09T09:06:00.001-08:00

For a lot of us runners, January is the bleakest of months. The last running season is an increasingly distant memory. Some are in a total break, resting away. Some start thinking of their next season, but with winter covering our favorite paths and trails, few of us actually go out and do some running. We don't have much to look forward to in the immediate future. We're mostly bored.

Maybe that's what blogger and coach Doug Cassaro was thinking when he created his January race. Or maybe he was thinking of faraway friends, of fellow runners in warmer climates, of the loss of peer contact we runners suffer during winter. I don't know what he was really thinking, but somewhere along the way, he had a stroke of genius.

Unite the virtual and real worlds. And race, of course.

So he created the first-ever Twitter Road Race, an event organized and held in the virtual world, but ran in the real one. Pure awesome!

So wherever you'll be, whatever conditions you live in, come January 21, you can join a race of thousand of happy runners, set your own course outside or on a treadmill, and join the fun of a world premiere, a 5K race ran all over the world, all at the same time!

FlintLand got a hold of Doug, in between his virtual race director duties, for a couple questions.

FL. Tell us what The Twitter Road Race is?

DC. The Twitter Road Race is a virtual race. It's a race where runners from all around the world can come together on race day and run together. The goal of this race is to create a new and fun way to connect with all the awesome runners on Twitter.

FL. Is this a world premiere?

DC. Yes. As far as I know, no one has put on a race of this nature via Twitter. I'm very excited about what the future holds for this event!

FL. How did you get the idea of mixing road racing and social networking?

DC. Runner camaraderie. The amount of support runners give each other at races and on Twitter amazes me. So, I got to thinking one day, "Why not put them together?" The overall response I've gotten from everyone on Twitter has been incredible! Never in my wildest dreams did I think this race would take off as quickly as it has! While I may have come up with this idea, I give all the credit to the runners on Twitter for getting the message out. You guys are awesome and this race wouldn't be possible without you! I can't thank you all enough!

FL. How is the race going to work? What are the rules?

DC. The way the race is going to work is simple. On race day, all you need to do is head out your door and run! It's up to you to decide what the course is going to be. When you finish, there will be a form on my blog where you record your finishing time. Results will be posted within 24 hours.

There are only two rules for this race. 1) You must be a Twitter user. (Sorry guys, there is a reason why it's called the Twitter Road Race) and 2) You must submit your time before 11:59PM Hawaiian Time (to accommodate runners in all time zones) on the day of the race to be classified as an official finisher.

Those that are interested in signing up can go here: Twitter Road Race

FL. Who’s going to win?

DC. Haha, no idea! Of course there will be an overall male and female winner, but this race isn't about who comes in first or who is the fastest. It's about bringing people together that share a common passion!

FL. How many people have enlisted so far?

DC. 231 and counting! A notable runner to mention what will be joining is Runner's World Chief Runner Officer, Bart Yasso!

FL. What’s your background?

DC. I started running in 2007 and have not looked back since. I'm a RRCA-Certified Running Coach and proud coach for my local running club. I've completed 25 marathons and 1 ultra, so I think it's safe to say I'm a fan of endurance racing. I primarily train and race on the road, but recently the trails have been calling my name.

So I don't know about you, but I know where I'll be on January 21st. I'll be virtually chasing Doug and a whole bunch of my running friends, racing my ass off on the treadmill, a large grin of my face and a whole bunch of bewildered gym folks looking at me sideways in confusion...

:)

What I Should Have Always Done

2012-01-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it takes a few bumps along the road to learn to listen to yourself.

http://teammancuso.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-i-should-have-always-done.html

Running From the Old Year and into the New

2012-01-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

With the changing of the years, I felt the need to write something. Right now, however, its hard to write anything without it turning into an excuse to merely bemoan my personal life rather than to celebrate running, as my life has been heavy on chaos and light on running these last few weeks.

Long story short: we've been in the process of buying a house for months. We thought we were in the final stages, and were supposed to close around Thanksgiving, so we told our landlord we wouldn't be resigning our lease at the end of the year. Since then, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, from the assessors losing paperwork to title companies not sending over all the documents to HPD, HUD, and the FHA all throwing their little governmental monkey-wrenches into the works. Since last Tuesday, we've been effectively homeless, with our stuff in a U-Haul, our animals in kennels or scattered amongst friends, and the two of us and our kids staying with my very generous mother-in-law out in Connecticut. Instead of ringing in the New Year in our own home, we rang it in unhoused and very, very stressed.

***

One of the ramifications of this all is that it has effectively killed off my running. Looking back at my log, I hadn't run since the 2oth, as my weekends have been filled with packing, or moving, or just freaking out. These few weeks have reminded me how important running is to me, but also how powerful and fast-acting the forces of entropy are; days of coffee, beer, and donuts beget more days of coffee, beer, and donuts, just as days of running beget more of the same. Like begets like, and it is easy to follow a pattern towards its logical conclusion. Of course, the positive implication of this is that once one has set up a pattern of health and exercise, it too forms a self-fulfilling prophecy of more health and fitness. In many ways, this is the Buddhist concept of karma at its essence: the law of cause-and-effect, conditions ripening for a given situation to arise.

With the changing of the year, I've been harboring a lot of bitterness. We were supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving in our new house; then we were definitely going to celebrate Christmas there; most recently, our agent and lawyer were reassuring us we'd certainly be welcoming in the New Year at our own place. I've had a lot of expectations, a lot of hopes, a lot of future events that I'd been clinging to. But that's another concept Buddhism warns against: clinging to expectations, forming attachments to the insubstantial things of this world as if they were of substance. As if the future -- any future -- is certain. What one has (what is already) is hard enough to hold on to, so trying to grasp what one does not have (what is not yet) is an exercise in futility and frustration.

With the changing of the year, I'm trying to remind myself to be grateful for what I have rather than be bitter for what I wish I had. The fact is this process will end in our having a house. The fact is I have a wonderful and supportive partner, and two amazingly beautiful kinds. We all are healthy and have the love and support of an amazing network of family and friends, both here in New York, across the continent, and scattered on-line. And the fact is that all these blessings, too, can be transit, so I should appreciate what I have been given, and remind myself that, in the grand scheme of things, what we are suffering is minor. Everything I love could be snatched away in an instant, by that same insubstantial, unknowable future that has thrown our housing plans into disarray. Here in Connecticut, there was a house fire that killed a woman's three daughters as well as both her visiting parents on Christmas Day, leaving her alive but suddenly bereft of everything on life that mattered to her. In light of her tragedy, what do I have to lament? In the face of such loss, how can I be anything but thankful for what I have?

***

M and I went for a short run yesterday, on the last day of 2011. The sun was sinking a dull red against the horizon, and the weather was once again unseasonably warm. It was the first time we had run together in months, if not a year -- we used to run together nearly every day before we had kids, but now we tag-team as we wait for them to be old enough to be left alone. We only ran three miles, but it was good to run together, to move my legs and breathe in the crisp air and not think about all the things we have to do. It reminded me I was healthy, that I have the strength and determination and freedom to run, that I live with a woman I love, a woman at whose side I've run a marathon (a woman who would like me, I'm sure, to point out that she crossed the finish line before I did). We just ran for 15 minutes in one direction, then turned around and ran back home, but it was enough. It was a reminder. It was a small celebration.

With our lives in turmoil, I have no idea if I'll be running my ultra as planned next weekend. But it doesn't matter -- if this race doesn't work out, I'll run another. It will happen at the right time, just like our house. One way or the other, I finished 2011 the same way I plan to begin 2012: with a run.

Originally posted on my blog, . . . when i talk about running

Running with Hobbits

2011-12-22T10:37:00.001-08:00

Read (our very own) Vanessa's article on active.com today, about what Hobbits have taught her about running. The article made me smile and made me remember the fun in running.

So I decided to repost it here for all of you to enjoy it.

Running with Hobbits. Active.com repost.

Happy Holidays (if I don't post before then)

What Are You Doing For Your Birthday?

2011-12-18T15:05:00.001-08:00

Nicole and Gail showing the pearly whites prior to heading out

When Nicole told me she had a crazy idea to ring in her 39th Birthday, I was thinking ok, this should be interesting, what could it be. A few thoughts ran through my head (a couple I cannot post because this is a family friendly blog), maybe take in Teemu's return to Winnipeg hockey game, maybe crack a bottle of wine open, etc.

Should I have I been surprised when with this little sly smile, she says, "Let's go for a midnight run tonight, maybe 15 miles or so." Well, let me tell you, numerous thoughts ran through my head as I contemplated this suggestion. It's December, in Winnipeg and running at midnight, sure why not, this could be interesting. So with this in mind, we secured a sitter for the kids, Nicole got a hold of the other crazy in her life, Gail and the planning commenced.

The plan, I would go get the sitter between 10 and 10:30, so we could be on the road by 11:00 to pick up Gail for our little adventure. Well great plans always come with some adversity, and I am a firm believer in "Go Big or Go Home", so in all my wisdom I headed out to pick up D or HashBoy as he is so warmly known by in the WH3, with only my faint recollection of where he lived. This would normally be ok because if I didn't recognize the house, then I could just pull out the cell phone and call home to have Nicole confirm the address, well that would be perfect if I remembered my phone. So as I cruised down his street, I thought to myself, I think the house number is 30, well let me tell you that was wrong. As I was sitting outside number 30, I suddenly thought to myself, no this isn't right, the front of the house doesn't look right and I'm pretty sure they don't have a white truck. Great, their going to think they have a stalker sitting outside there house, and the blue and red lights are going to be showing up any minute. So with this in mind, and to ensure there was no bars and guy's named Bubba in my future, I figured it would be safer for me to make the 10 minute drive back home and get the right address before our outing turned into something other than what we had originally foreseen. By the way I was close '38' could be taken as '30' couldn't it.

Anywho, once the sitter was secured and settled in at the house and Nicole all decked out in her Birthday present, a Nuu Muu running dress (not sure why this is important but it sure put a smile on her face and it did look good on her), we headed off to pick up Gail for the run that was serving a couple of purposes. Not only was this a Birthday Run celebration for my wife, but also I deemed it the Inaugural Winnipeg Division of the Canadian Chapter of the Barefoot Runners Society (man that was a mouthful) Group Run. Even though none of us were actually barefoot (I was sporting my ZemGear 360 split toes, Nicole her Minimus Trail Shoes and Gail her trashed Asics), we were going to see where the trail took us on this beautiful December night.

Starting off in the Tim Horton's parking lot at about 11:30pm, we must of looked like three weirdo's to the people inside who were huddled over the Canadian alternative to crack cocaine (Timmies coffee) as they peered outside at us. I can't see what the big deal was, one guy with funny looking reflective shoes, running tights and a head lamp with two hot women also sporting head lamps heading out on a run. Nothing to see here folks, and no officer we have not been drinking, honestly.

Just leaving the starting point who would of thunk

so much attention would be raised by some runners

on a December night run

That almost looks like a Nan Noo, Nan Noo wave from Nicole.

As we headed up the road, smiling, laughing and joking about how people thought we were crazy, I'm sure we were getting some interesting looks as the cars passed by. I say, if you can't have a little fun along the way, what is the point, life is to short not to let loose. We got to the entry point of the Assiniboine Forest with good time and proceeded through the closed gates (oooohhh, aren't we the rebels) and had a quick discussion on what the plan was. Both Gail and I chimed in with, "It's your birthday, its your call", so after a couple of quick photos, the turning on of the head lamps we were off.

Nicole and I at the start of the Assiniboine Forest Trailhead

It has to be the most surreal feeling to run trail in pitch blackness with only the light from a headlamp to guide you, even with three you can usually see about 10 feet in front of you at best. This really makes you focus on your running form and enhances the rest of your senses to compensate for your lack of sight. Even though Assiniboine Forest is in the middle of the city, it is populated by numerous deer, skunks, many different varieties of birds, the occasional fox, coyote and sometimes a cougar (and I don't mean the ones stalking young prey at the local watering holes) if you believe some of the stories. So some of the sounds that come from the deep dark woods are interesting, you have the creak of a tree branch in the distance, a shaloof of snow falling from a tree, then a crack as Nicole runs into a tree, then followed by laughter as it registers what she has just done. I will elaborate more on this later.

It always is an adventure when I run with these two, it is definitely not about speed nor about distance (at least not always), it is more about the adventure and to see what new twist they can throw into a morning or night run. This one was no exception, as we ran along the trails through the woods towards one of the clearings and a little hillock which would in turn become one of Nicole's areas of pure enjoyment, the ever elusive and endangered downhill run (remember we live in Manitoba). The downhill run to Nicole is like me finding a ice cold beer conveniently bagged and tucked away on a Hash House Harrier Run, it turns her into a giddy little school girl. She starts giggling and laughing as she picks up momentum and pulls away from everyone. Gail and I looked at each other, and all I could think at the time is, typical with a smile and laughed. At this point, I did not see it but a reliable resource has informed me, that in her bravado, Nicole turned around and started to run backwards and 'crack' right into a tree. When we arrive Nicole is standing there slightly dazed but laughing and smiling as she was rubbing the back of her head. Who ever said running was boring, obviously has never run with these two. All I could do was snicker and make sure she was ok.

After the 'Great Tree Incident of 2011', we carried on our way through the forest towards the Harte Trail. We hit the boardwalk over the swampy area (that was currently frozen) and Gail starts mentioning that this reminded her of the story of the Three Billy Goat's Gruff, this got me into reciting bits and pieces of the story that I knew. I continued to have the story run through my head off and on through out the run, thanks Gail. We broke out onto the Harte Trail and turned to the right, or so I thought, and continued on till we hit Shaftsbury Road to the east. This is a funny thing as well as I was sure we were heading west when we hit the trail, but apparently not, this is why you do not follow me in a race as I tend to get lost just as much as Gail does. Poor sense of direction all around by the group. As we rounded the corner and started heading to the west (yes it actually was to the west) along the Harte Trail to finish the loop to Haney Street and then back to Tim's to get a well deserved coffee, tea and hot chocolate.

It was a good run overall, full of laughs, smiles and discussions about crazy bikers who talk about what to do when they fall through the ice of a lake (personally I would think you would avoid trying this but who am I to say, I run barefoot in the snow occasionally) and upcoming races and plans for next year. Nicole discussing her plan to run 40 miles for her birthday next year, because you know when you turn 39 + 1 that is the right thing to do. Overall we ran 5 fun filled miles through the dark on slightly icy streets and trails. Nicole found a new friend in a tree that was quite happy to give her a goose egg for her birthday, and I have had a smile on my face since last night thinking back on the adventure.

So what do you have planned for your birthday?

Nicole and Gail heading out

Running along Grant Avenue in Winnipeg at 11:45 pm

Getting ready to head out into the great dark unknown

Only Gail could find a tree to stand in front

of with leaves still hanging on in December

The Birthday Girl and Gail running up Harte Trail

Ahhh, coffee, tea and HC awaits at the Tim Hortons

2011 Fall Running Summary

2011-12-17T05:27:00.000-08:00

I have put together a short summary for this post since I have gotten so behind on my blog. Here are some of the Run Smiley barefoot runnings I’ve been doing in the fall of this year.

Warsaw 30k Point to Point

For my Run Smiley Virtual Run, on Saturday September 24, I ran the Runner’s Life Point to Point 30k from Peterborough to Warsaw. I had run this once before in the spring of this year, but this time I wasn’t training for a marathon. Without having put as much mileage into my training I found this distance to be a bit of a challenge. However, the biggest challenge was the surface conditions for a section in the middle of the run. The addition of the pea-gravel for about 5k of the run was no treat either, but my feet will be that much better for it. 30k Time: 3:15.

Turkey Trot

A great barefoot run through the Ganaraska Forest followed by good food, drink and hot-tubbing. 15k Time: 1:38.

Some converts?

Warkworth 8 Miler

I ran this country road/trail race once before 2 years ago and finished in 1:15. I was happy with my time this year considering it was quite windy but at least it was 10°C and the sun was out for most of the race. 13k Time 1:08.

Runway 5k Win

Wow! I actually won a race! It wasn’t a “real” race since it was a charity walk/run event, but still I have never won one of those before either. 5k Time 22:40. Then I went on in my euphoria to race a Halloween costume 5k trail race. A very successful fun-filled day for me.

Halloween 5k

Not a bad time considering this was my second race of the morning. I started off too fast, but soon realized that I had already spent most of my energy. I was able to settle into a doable pace and finish strong though. 5k Time 24:26. There were a lot of good costumes this year. Good times!

Road2Hope Half Marathon

I drove to Hamilton for the race in the morning. I had eaten breakfast at 3am and was on the highway by 4am. So I was feeling quite hungry by the time the race started. I started out fast, maybe too fast. A little before the 3k aid station I got a stitch pain under my lower right rib and had to walk. I drank some water and walked a little after the aid station as well. I tried to relax to keep the pain away and at that point I was starting to descend the hill. So I relaxed my legs, sped up my feet and went flying past many people. By the time I got to the flat part around 10k I was feeling pretty tired. At that point I thought I was shooting for 2 hours. Then Bob came by on a bike and motivated me by telling me I was still on track for 1:45. By 15k Mabel had caught up to me and was pulling away. I decided I would do whatever it took to stay with her. Every so often she would get ahead of me and I would have to push it to catch up. I was wondering if she was as tired as I was because she didn’t look it. In the last kilometer I noticed I was in front of her but I didn’t dare look back. I pushed with all I had left to get to the finish. I was able to do a final sprint in the last hundred meters to pass four or five people in front of me. I was very surprised and happy when I read in the results that I had just run a new half marathon PB with a time of 1:44:41.

Zemgear

I met up with Arlen from ZEMgear Canada after the race in Hamilton. I told him a bit of my running history and about my experience with the Zems last winter. He asked me if I would write on the ZEMgear blog and I said I would. He then gave me a free pair of the new 360 split-toe model, a ZEMgear t-shirt and said I was now an official ZEMgear Runner.

Last year’s model was great for snowy bitterly cold runs, but couldn’t stand up to the rough surfaces.

I will be testing this year’s new and improved 360 model. Now I am just waiting for the cold snowy weather.

Whitby 10k

Two years ago I ran the 10 miler in Whitby with Paul and Vanessa. This year I ran the 10k and the temperature was about 10°C warmer although there was a bit of a wind. I ran this with Deb, Bob and Kevin. They are all quite fast and I wanted to get a 10k PB here, but I really wanted to try to keep up to Bob. I realized that was a mistake at about 3k. Bob and I started out very fast (faster than I usually start a 5k). By the 3k mark Bob was starting to leave me behind and I was left to try to get through the next 7k with a fatigued body. I was able to pick up my sluggish pace for a nice sprint at the end encouraged a lot by Bob yelling “HEY, IT’S THE BAREFOOT RUNNER FROM PETERBOROUGH!” and running the last several meters with me. Thanks Bob. Although I couldn’t keep up to Bob’s 42:36 time, I did get my PB with a 46:14 time and best of all free chili and beer.

From the Horse’s Mouth – An Interview With Caballo Blanco

2011-12-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Portrayed as an evasive ghost and the lone wanderer of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, Caballo Blanco, AKA Micah True, is a rather busy man. Between touring the world to spread awareness about the Tarahumara (Raramuri, “The lightfooted ones”, is their real name) and organizing his now-famous Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, he remains deeply committed to his way of life and has a very contagious love for the sport, his people and the place he calls home.

Away from Urique in a recent trip to the city of Creel, where he manages the purchase of the maize vouchers distributed to runners who finish the 51-mile race, he took some time to answer FlintLand’s questions. We humbly bring them to you as-is, unaltered… straight from The Horse’s Mouth.

FL - The Born to Run fame has had many effects on your life, first by putting you under the spotlight, then by bringing awareness to the Raramuri and their struggle. You seem to be able to reconcile both, and you’ve been very busy this year traveling the world and giving talks. What is the message you carry?

CB – “Run for peace”. I don't really use words like "struggle" or "plight" in regards to the Raramuri. WE are all [humans] on the same earth and it’s up to all of us to honor and take care of her.

FL - As the creator and race director of the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon (CCUM), your prime objective is to rekindle and celebrate the running culture of the Raramuri. Did the race have an influence on that culture? Do you see concrete results of your actions?

CB - More Raramuri are running again. The people are gaining both materially and in deeper ways because they are re-realizing a running tradition [although our race is free-style trail running and not the traditional ball race... ] But, they are running. And they are running more rarajipares [ball races] as well. And they have the nutritional means now to do so.

FL - You are very protective of the Raramuri culture, both in your talks and in organizing the CCUM. Do you think the culture is at risk? Have there been negative impacts from the outside world?

CB - WE are ALL at risk -:} Every action causes reactions. I am a little guarded, realizing that all change is imminent and all people must adapt. The Raramuri are very progressive and adaptable, even in their traditional ways. They are kind of a running contradiction. Traditional and progressive simultaneously. Proud and humble at the same time.

FL - You bring a lot of relief in the Copper Canyons through a non-profit organization called Norawas de Raramuri (Friends of the Raramuri). What is the vision of that organization and how does it help the people?

CB - To help encourage and enable the people to help themselves to continue to run Free! To take pride in being who they are and know that they are respected and looked upon as positive examples. The Raramuri are bringing "relief" onto themselves, and us, through inspiration. Yes, the economy of the region has improved greatly in large part because of our race event.... It has planted a seed of hope.

FL - You have mentioned that the harvests this year have been very small due to a drought in the Canyons and that the Raramuri need help to secure basic food staples and supplies. How much is needed?

CB - I don't know. NOTHING is needed as the Raramuri will make do as they always have; they will survive as always… ANYTHING is appreciated. This season’s running projects will bring over 1,500 costales [250 kg sacks] - 75 tons of maize [the food value in vouchers to be redeemed at community markets to purchase what they want/need]… and substantial cash to the top 10 men and women, many of whom will be Raramuri. That windfall of nourishment will assist the people considerably and boost the economy of the whole region, for Mexicans and Raramuri alike.

FL - How can our readers support you in your efforts?

CB - Run with us -:} is the best… or make a donation directly to the Raramuri [no overhead or salaries to board members--ALL volunteer, including expenses] to the non-for-profit organization Norawas de Raramuri. Tax deductible in the USA… Karma deductible elsewhere -:}

FL - You have mentioned several times that there are companies and organizations out there using the name or the image of the Raramuri and not giving back to the community. Are you on to them? Do you plan to expose them and try to make them change their ways?

CB – That’s the way of the world… No; I am not going to "expose" them nor get anybody to change there ways. Set an example; and maybe some of them will pick it up and do the same [set examples]. We all have our freedom of choices and actions.

FL - You have taken some distance from Born to Run’s contents, and now there’s a movie underway. It seems like the book and the upcoming movie have motivated you to start writing your own story, “From The Horse’s Mouth”. Can you tell us more about it? What will your book be about?

CB - Born To Run was/is a very good book/story.

"Born To Run Free: True Trails From The Horse's Mouth".
I have written a story based on living experiences previous to the book. The book just gives it more content and experiences to draw on… It also has provided me a certain voice. It is up to me to use that voice and whatever notoriety I have acquired from the book to use in good ways. It is up to me... No Mas.

FL - The Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon 2012 is fast approaching. You recently announced that up to 60 runners from many countries will participate this year. In the future, do you think the race will remain an event of exception or will it eventually hit the mainstream?

CB - 75 international runners and I don't know, maybe 50 Mexico nationals and a couple hundred Raramuri. I don't know if it will hit the mainstream. Depends on how you define mainstream -:] Kind of already has.

FL - What do you envision for the CCUM in the future?

CB - I don't know. WE will see.

Run Free!

Caballo Blanco

Following Caballo’s suggestion, I will be joining him and the other runners, the Mas Locos, for a celebration of peace on March 4, 2012. If you are an avid Run Smiley / FlintLand reader and can spare a couple dollars, please make a donation to support the organization Norawas de Raramuri. Even better, pack your bag and travel down to the Copper Canyons and join the celebration!

Run or Walk. Fast or Slow. It's all Good

2011-12-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

[Plenipotentiary Note: We had this post sent to us from Melissa who writes for her blog "Disciplined Indulgence". You can find the original post here]

Run, Walk, Hop, Skip, Jog, or Crawl

Miles are miles

As long as you enjoyed the journey,

there is no way I will judge how you got there...

and neither should you.

: )

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

I enjoyed a rainy day, cheering on my wonderful man and many others

who were participating in the Pasadena Marathon.

Mister AC smiles while running in the rain during the Pasdena Marathon

(Gotta love the foggy/rainy camera effects)

; )

I especially love to cheer for the walkers who are nearing the finish line

becuase many of them think they don't measure up

to the runners flying past them.

Other than the regular cheering of

good job, you're almost there, and the usual, I also say things like:

"Walkers take it slow cuz it feels good-just ask their girlfriend/boyfriend"

"Walkers get their money's worth by being out there longer"

"Walkers need love too"

Everyone smiles when they hear a cheer for them especially the walkers!

However...

This little tid-bit kinda broke my heart

I was cheering on a group of runners who were speeding by,

when a group of walkers came into view.

I started cheering for them too.

I noticed they were all looking at the runners and didnt look too happy.

I said "looking good you guys, you're almost there, you should be proud!"

One woman who was wearing a 1/2 marathon bib, shook her head and said "we're just walking."

I said

"JUST?!?!"

You've just covered 13 miles!

She said

But we just walked. We didn't Run. Runners are better.

I just stood there. Stunned. Sad.

Sad she felt that way. Sad, that instead of being proud of the fact that she just covered 13 miles

(while not being a spring chicken nor being especially fit)

she decided to compare herself to the people running.

Many people I know feel pressured to Run

Thinking that as a walker, they are not "good enough".

To any runner, the following questions may appear to be silly

but to a person who isn't confident with their physical abilities or who have heard too many times things like "running is bad for your body"

(remember, running isn't bad for your body, people are bad to their body)

they are good, solid questions.

When someone comes to me and asks

How do I start running?

I want to learn to run, what should I do?

Do you think I could ever run?

I don't answer right away. First, I ask

WHY?

Why do you want to run? Is a bear chasing you? You afraid of something?

People have many reasons why they want to start running

And all that matters is that you want to start.

Everyone has different goals.

Whether you're fast, slow, go long or short distances, like roads, treadmills, or trails...as long as you enjoy it, and continue to enjoy it, just keep enjoying it!

The best way to start running

Start Walking!

Put one foot in front of the other, pick up the pace, and keep going!

Never feel pressured to run.

Some people prefer to enjoy the slow pace of walking because it affords a person the time to see, smell, and hear things

that can be missed while one is running.

Some people prefer running because of the speed, the freedom,

and the excitement.

How much, how fast, and how far you run is up to you!

Some people try it for a while and never really get into it.

Others take to it like a duck to water and you just can't stop them.

Some dabble in it whenever it fits into their schedule.

No matter what one's relationship with running turns into, there is enough room and respect on the road for everyone

as long as everyone is respecting themselves.

All that matters is that we put one foot in front of the other and enjoy every step.

2011-12-10T17:10:00.001-08:00

Hi guys! I haven't been writing much lately for Run:), though I've been running -- a lot. I'm training for my first ultra, and so much of my running hasn't been "smiley" per se. Enjoyable, yes, but more practical (gotta get in those runs!) than in the spirit of this site. Last weekend, however, I had a fantastic 22 mile run, and finally had something to share with my Run:) family. See you around!

***

A lot of marathoners complain about the LSR -- the long, slow run -- but those runs are what I live for, the runs that make me not just like running but have me addicted to the sport. Of course, that might be the difference between someone who finishes a marathon and thinks, "I wonder if I can do that faster?" and someone like me who thinks, "I wonder if I can go even farther?"

While I love all my long runs, the runs I revel in are the ones that take me somewhere new: when running goes past exercise or even moving meditation and becomes exploration. I love turning down a street and staring down the length of an avenue I've never seen, passing through the shadows of foreign churches and housing projects, watching the skin tones and languages and food and the clothing and style of housing change from one neighborhood to the next.

This Sunday was one of those long runs, and its been a while. Most of my long runs during my ultra training have been local and meandering, many of them involving circling Prospect Park again and again. Since the Marathon on the 23rd, I hadn't had a good long run at all. I spent the week after the race mending my knee, then the long weekend of Thanksgiving was a lot of time with my partner and kids and taking it easy. Last weekend I just fit in 10 miles, so I was really anticipating my scheduled 20 miles Sunday. When I started running, it helped me kick the tail-end of my addiction to cigarettes, but there's no denying the shift involved trading one compulsion for another: 14 days after running a marathon, I felt twitchy from not having run any long distances "recently." I also was starting to feel a bit anxious in terms of my training, since January 7th is fast approaching .

When thinking about my run beforehand, I wanted something the opposite of the Brooklyn Marathon -- instead of looping the same area, I wanted to go as far as possible. Before my run I went on line, and looked at points about 10 miles from our apartment. One option was the Western Tip of the Rockaways, somewhere I'd never been before. I had a destination -- I threw my camera and some gels in my Camelback and headed off.

***

It was a perfect winter day for a run: clear and crisp. For the first twenty minutes or so I a ran through familiar ground, west three blocks to Nostrand, then south along Nostrand towards Eastern Parkway. I crossed the Parkway, and a few blocks further came to Empire State Boulevard. Here I turn East to head to my school, or West to head to Prospect Park. I'd never continued South before, so from here on everything was new.

My route was simple: head south on Nostrand to Flatbush, turn right, and continue south-east on Flatbush until it ended. I ran through Crown Heights, then at the edge of Ditmas Park, turned on Flatbush at the Triangle Shopping Center. From there Ditmas faded into Flatlands; the surrounding buildings grew shorter and the number of restaurants with parking-lots and drive-thrus increased as New York's public-transportation thinned towards the further reaches of the borough.

When I passed the King Plaza Mall, the city came to an abrupt halt. Avenue U marked the end of apartments and corner stores, and beyond it was water and trees, empty fields and water. I had no idea where I was at the time, but later found out Marine Park was to my right, Mill Basin to my left. Eventually the sidewalk became unkempt, more shattered concrete than actual path, and I had to cross the on-ramps to the Belt Parkway.

Flatbush continued on the other side of the Parkway, and my broken sidewalk met up with the Jamaica Bay Bike path as it passed Floyd Bennett Field, which seemed to be a jumble of wilderness preserve, dilapidated and graffiti covered warehouses, and abandoned airstrips that had been repurposed for amateur drag-racing. Past Floyd Bennett Field, Flatbush finally ended in the Gil Hodges Bridge. The bridge spanned the mouth of Jamaica, and as I ran across it I had a fabulous panorama of the Brooklyn shore and the borough's skylines in the distance: the Citi Bank tower north in Queens, the Williamsburg Bank tower in downtown Brooklyn, and behind it all the towers of Manhattan, clearly identifiable even at this distance. Nearer, Coney Island was visible on the other side of the bay.

On the far side of the bridge was the narrow peninsula of the Rockaways. At the point I was headed for the land was less than half-a-mile wide, so I could see the beach on this side of the bay and, on the other side of the thin strip of streets and houses, the Atlantic Ocean. I ran off the bridge by Jacob Riis Park, and the area felt very un-New York: deserted and dilapidated in a way that felt more mid-Western than East Coast. I walked along the shore for a few minutes, finished the last of my HEED, then turned around and headed back home.

***

Because my route was out and back, my return was obviously identical to the way out, only with the light and shadows shifting with the advance of the sun. I had used up all my gels and drink getting there, so when I got back to Avenue U, I stopped into a store to pick up some coconut water and a power bar. A few miles later I was still starving, and craving real food, so I decided if I was training for an ultramarathon, I might as well try fueling like a crazy ultra-runner (ultra-runners tend to eat really weird things on their runs). So somewhere around 3 hours into my run I stopped into a pizza shop, grabbed a slice, and ate it as I continued to run. It turns out that it is not, in fact, that hard to eat a slice of pizza while running -- and sure beat downing any more sticky sweet gels.

As I ran and ate, I started thinking about Jesse Scott's insistence that he ran better when fueling on crap like Twizzlers and Slushies, and suddenly had an intense craving for a Slushie. I knew there was a gas-station mini-mart at Atlantic Avenue, and for the next two miles I couldn't think of anything other than an ice-cold Cherry Coke Slushie. Slushie in hand I continued home, and discovered a new danger on long-runs: brain-freeze.

I had a great time on this run, and succeeded in working in all my ultra-lessons that I learned during the Brooklyn Marathon. I kept up a slow but steady pace, and I every thirty minutes I stopped and walked for two minutes. I also stopped to take pictures every so often, or whenever I just wanted to look around. It took me around 4 hours to run 22 miles, which is close to my average pace during the marathon, but instead of doing the first half fast and the second half injured, I did the whole thing slow and ended feeling strong. And as much as I enjoy the social aspect of a race, I really love four hours being alone in my head and body. It wasn't "goofy tutu smiley" or "climb a tree smiley" or "high-five some random guy" smiley," but it was smiley none-the-less. Long, Slow, Ultra Smiley.

[As usual, this is also posted over on my blog, http://whenitalkaboutrunning.wordpress.com/]

Inaugural Coquitlam Centre Jingle Bell Jog – Race report

2011-12-04T21:07:00.001-08:00

[Also published at http://barefootkatiek.blogspot.com/2011/12/inaugural-coquitlam-centre-jingle-bell.html]

Wow, a race report. I haven’t done one of these since… well I broke my knee in June. I did have a 10K scheduled last month, but as I had re-injured my knee around the same time, it proved to be my first ever DNS. Oh well. I like DNS, means I don’t have to remember a string of numbers every time I want to see videos of pets on “Youtube”. Sorry, that was a very geeky reference – couldn’t help it! About half of the readership of this blog is going “huh? I don’t get it”.

So it was a 1K kids race around the parking lot and then a 5K jog, which went up some trail over a few roads -with nice RCMP cops blocking the roads- and a run around a park. For a 5K –an especially a 5K where I wasn’t planning on running fast or furious – there isn’t much to say. I ran it and then I stopped. No need to discuss race strategies, fueling plans, pacing or training plans. The whole race pretty encompassed the ideas of “turned up, run, finish and get the good muffins”.

Although of course, this is me we are talking about and although I spend my life in boring conformity, I do break the rules occasionally.

So, first rule broken (and one I break repetitively), I will not dress sensibly. I had asked D about a month ago if he wanted to run and if he wanted a racing TUTU from Glamrunner. He said he wanted to race, but he didn’t want a TUTU (despite the fact he had spent a large chunk of his time in one since I brought mine back from NYC). However, of course, he changed his mind last weekend. As I knew it was too late to buy one, I decided to make one for him, (sending good vibes to Glamrunner in the process). He also insisted I have one too, so a plethora of tulle, lots of elastic, ribbon and an evening later, we were the proud owners of 2 Christmas race TUTU’s. Luckily no cats, dogs, kids or fish were harmed in the making of the TUTU’s although that is probably a close run thing!

We already knew that we were going to be getting Santa Hats and reindeer noses, so all that was left was to figure out was my race music and what shoes to wear (if any). It had to be Christmas Classics of course; so I had John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Bing Crosby and a whole host of other stars to rock too as I ran with one iPod bud in my ear. Running with music is a contentious issue, but I think you have to have some form of Christmas music accompanying you if you are dressed like the fairy off a Christmas Tree!

Last but not least was what to wear on my feet. The weather reports seemed to indicate freezing temps at the time of the race. I had also discovered a patch of eczema on my one of my toes, so barefoot was out. I decided to see if a combination of toe-socks and my Invisible Shoes (6mm) would do the trick. As you may remember the 4mm was lost in the “urban myth of the NYC Barefoot Run”. So now I was a gladiatorial Christmas Fairy!

We caused quite a sight at the race start, which we only just managed to catch. D’s race was first and we literally sprinted to the start and we were off. He was awesome. I think he ran the whole way, only stopping to pick up his reindeer antlers. This was so much different to 6 months ago when I had to drag him around the course. The “Mothers’ Day race “was “pre-minimalist shoe” and it showed. He would never have run this far before, or have such a big grin on his face. He did awesome and he made so many people smile.

He had also asked on his Santa list for a “Giant golden trophy” for Christmas. (I haven’t figured that out either). So yesterday I scoured the stores looking for a giant trophy. I managed to find a small one and it was enough. I slipped it to Santa and brought D to him after the race. The look on his face was priceless and you could see that it had made his day

I then went off to my race as M and D went to look for coffee – no point everyone standing in the cold for half an hour as I was running.

I had a few goals for this race. I was going to smile for all of it. I was only going to run how I felt I should run and not run fast. I was going to thank every volunteer and I was going to sing my Christmas songs.

I achieved every single goal. My bright neon, funky sandals and I had a blast. I am glad I was wearing my sandals as we ended up running about a mile or so on gravel trail. I love these things. They were light, they were funky, they worked and I was able to really feel the ground. I passed a few runners tying their shoes and I didn’t have to re-tie my sandals once. I think I also peeved off a few people. It must be quite demoralizing when you are huffing and puffing to have someone pass you who isn’t wearing proper shoes but who is also singing really badly. I did say “Merry Christmas” to them when I passed, so hopefully they will forgive me.

M and D JUST made it to the finish as I got there. There were lots of hugs, cuddles and giggles. It turns out despite my best efforts to take it easy I was 5 minutes quicker than I planned. I was about 27-28 minutes, which as I haven’t run 5K in about 3 weeks and I haven’t been training properly for 6 months because of my knee I was pretty impressed. I also know I wasn’t going full belt because apart from the gunk from my cold last week I didn’t feel out of breath at all. Just goes to show that “Running Christmas Smiley”, isn’t as hard as it looked. (Also I think a Running TUTU provides magical powers!)

Ultra Smiley

2011-11-29T17:57:00.001-08:00

[Plenipotentiary note: Okay, I am going apologise to Liz in advance. This mail got caught up in my Spam filter after I rebuilt my machine. I am so sorry it's a couple of weeks late. I have spanked my spam filter thoroughly and have sent her an author invite for being so patient. Sorry! The original post can be found on her blog: http://runwhatmay.com/2011/11/16/ultra-smiley/ ]

Original post by Liz Bondar @ RunWhatMay.com

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Running an ultra is demanding - even if your goal is simply to finish. (And - let's face it - for us hobby joggers, at distances of 50-100+ miles, we're mostly in it to just finish or perhaps beat some personal time goal.)

Ups and downs, terrific highs and despairing lows... you need all the smiley you can get. And so does everyone else out there with you - runners, crews, volunteers, and other hapless trail users.

So, with a tip o' the nib to other Run Smiley authors who've gone before, here are my ideas on running Ultra Smiley.

Thank the volunteers - all of them, whether you take aid or not. These folks put in longer hours with less traffic/activity than conventional road races; they're as lonely as you are (and probably even hotter or colder than you are, too). In many cases, they've gone well beyond to stock and run an aid station in The Middle of Nowhere.
Help other runners - be generous with your gear, supplies, and self...on the course and at the aid stations. The best-laid plans are all subject to change during the course of an ultra - at any moment, it could well be you in need.
Run with gratitude - that you are able to run in such a beautiful place on a day like this. There will come a day when you won't be able to run... today is not that day.
Go solo - no crew, no pacer, no traveling companions. Open yourself up and you'll make many new friends along the way.
Make others laugh - brighten their day and yours at the same time. Maintain your sense of humor as you do the impossible
Skip and gallop - change your stride as well as your outlook. (Go on - I dare you to not smile while skipping!)
Leave your expectations behind - the day (and night) will be long, anything can happen. Take each thing as it comes - one step at a time - and make the most of it.
Dance - do the hokey-pokey at the turn-yourself-about point on an out-and-back, show off your funky chicken coming into an aid station.
Revel in nature's playground - swing from a branch, kick through the fallen leaves, enjoy the water crossings... immerse yourself to cool off, splash around, take the wettest way across.
Lie through your teeth - tell the other runners how marvelous they look (especially in the dead of the night and in their most desparate moments), you'll feel more marvelous too.

It often seems like it "takes a village" to complete an ultra. Be part of the community and run smiley.

Play Smiley: Response 1

2011-11-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

Like Kate, I've been pretty silent on this site for a while. I've been running a lot, but it hasn't been terribly "smiley" -- training for an ultra-marathon isn't the most smiley of affairs. Oh, I've been enjoying it, but the sheer amount of running I'm doing and the fact I'm squeezing in runs before and after work in the dark and during drizzly snow-storms makes most of my runs more utilitarian than smiley. While "learning to find the joy in monotony and misery" is certainly part of the art and philosophy of Run Smiley, I feel I've written that to death. There's also the fact that two kids plus teaching a new curriculum at a new high school on top of all that running leaves little time for keeping up my own blog, let alone contributing here, and again, my posts on "When I talk About Running" haven't been my smiliest. If you want to read about my limping through the Brooklyn Marathon, you can, but I certainly wasn't smiling towards the end.

Anyway, the point is that I'm taking up Kate on her challenge to post some smiley play in the place of smiley running. Okay, I'm just taking advantage of a chance to force videos of my kids on the general populace, but what else are parents good for? For added bonus points, I was playing BAREFOOT, which I think has to count for something around these parts : )

Playing Smiley

2011-11-26T13:58:00.001-08:00

My "Running Smiley" situation hasn't been happening much lately. My long-standing knee injury with occasional relapses has meant that I am lucky to run more than a couple of miles a week. However, I am not a girl to be taken down by the misfortunes of life. I will not give up the "smiley" part of my life.

So this post is just to say, that in all things make sure you do them "smiley". "Running Smiley" shouldn't be tied to just running. If you can't run, then ensure you do something else that makes you smile.

Here in Vancouver, we have had a series of early winter storms and this has created a new passion in my life. To me, snow means playtime, and so I have spent the last few weekends regressing decades and letting my inner kid out to play. It's been fantastic! This has been my "Running Smiley"; hiking in the snow, jumping in the drifts, making snow-balls and snow-angels with my family. Just to show how much fun we are having, find the photo's below. I dare you not to smile when you see them.

So here is my Challenge: Go and find an activity - doesn't have to be running. Release your inner child and take a photo. Post it here. Let's make Running Smiley, more universal. Let's make our lives "Playing Smiley"

Now Go, Take up my Challenge and Play Smiley.

Flint's Reviews : VIVOBAREFOOT Neo Trail

2011-11-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

Important
Before transitioning to minimalist (or “barefoot”) footwear, make sure you understand what the whole concept entails. Here’s an intro text if you need it.

Type : Barefoot / Minimal
Use : Trail Running
Price : About $140 (unverified)

Introduction
There have been so many new products in the minimal / barefoot market recently, I find it hard to even keep track. It’s a blessing, on one side; because a wider choice is often a good thing (provided the offered products are well-conceived). On the other hand, there seems to be many crappy, confusing, nonsensical products which have hit the shelves, and they are not bringing anything of interest to the table (The Fila Skeletoe is just one example of the latter).

So when I opened the box to check out the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo Trail, I did it with a healthy dose of scepticism. I had been searching for a viable shoe fit for serious trail running for some time now, and aside from the Merrell Trail glove (reviewed here), which is a sound choice but doesn’t offer enough grip for single-trail conditions and harsh terrain, I had found nothing.

First impression
I usually don’t analyze packaging or marketing, for obvious reasons, but I have to make an exception here. First of all, VIVOBAREFOOT uses recycled materials for some of the shoe’s parts, like the inner lining. Second, the shoes are guaranteed not to be produced in sweatshops, something commendable, which every apparel maker out there should be doing. Finally, your shoes come wrapped not in throw-away plastic or paper, but in individual, washable, reusable bags that work wonders when you have to carry your mud-stained shoes in a backpack.

The shoe
At 8,25 oz, the Neo trail is light but not a featherweight. This didn’t bug me, as the shoe feels tough and ready for action. It is built with a very wide toe box and a fairly flat end, something I think is now the proven way to go for any minimalist shoe. With that said, however, the sizing is a little tricky, as it relies on the European charts and the shoes run about one size short. (For example, I’m typically a size 7.5 and was advised to get a size 42, which was too big and had to be replaced with a size 41).

The lacing on the pair I got was done from the outside in, which I changed for a more straightforward, pull-to-tighten approach. The shoe doesn’t slim down at the arch section like other barefoot shoes do and leaves ample room for up to 7 diagonal rubber lugs on the outsole and a rock plate under the arch. This is where the Neo Trail really expresses itself: it screams trail.

Trail test
I wore the Neo Trails for a full day at the office before trying them out for a run (I’ve learned that trick from blistering experience). Turns out they didn’t need a break-in. Then I wore the shoes for an outside walk, then a light trail run, then a single-trail cross-fit run, and finally a full-fledge mountain trail run.

The Neo Trail delivered beyond my expectations. At first, I thought the aggressive sole pattern would take away some ground feel for sure, but somehow it doesn’t. You will feel as much terrain as you do in a pair of VFF Komodos, but with the proper protection against protruding rocks and other trail hazards. I was amazed to step in deep mud and feel every inch of the experience, while in the meantime being able to run hard in very rocky downhills relying on the excellent protection of the rockplate and rubber studs.

The grip of this shoe is amazing. I was lucky to run one of my tests with a Training Mobs group wearing regular running shoes and trail shoes and my Neo Trails outperformed the former and were definitely on par with the latter, if not better. The low-to-the-ground, zero-drop 6.5mm sole clearly puts you at an advantage while it not only lets your foot twist and turn like it should, but offers aggressive traction even on wet surfaces.

The upper fabric seems to be truly 100% waterproof, as I stepped in puddles of water, mud patches and ran on trails thickly covered in damp leaves and never got my feet wet. This is fantastic for Canadian runners, as we have to face harsh snowy winters and slushy paths. The combined water resistance and traction of the Neo Trail makes it a serious choice for multiple running conditions throughout the seasons, something not a lot of minimal shoes can pretend to offer.

Conclusion
This is one solid trail running shoe, and thus far my choice when it comes to serious single-trail running. With the excellent proprioception of a true minimal shoe and the traction / protection of a standard trail runner, The Neo Trail offers the best of both worlds. I am very impressed with it and will keep using it for many more happy trail miles in the future.

High points

One of very few serious minimal trail runners
Sturdy, yet flexible outsole with excellent traction
Offers plenty of protection on harsh single trails
Roomy toe box for free movement
Zero-drop construction with removable insole
Waterproof

Low points

Sizing's a little tricky

The equipment for this personal review was supplied by VIVOBAREFOOT, free of charge, without any conditions.

Running is medicine and thoughts on intimate fluids

2011-11-07T20:45:00.001-08:00

Running is medicine. There's the cardio, long term health, weight loss piece that's really important but the thing I'm talking about is another kind of medicine. Life is full of challenges. There are always these moments that push you toward breaking, or at least questioning whether you know what you're doing, and whether or not what you're doing is right. Any big decision or long commitment, long term challenge or set of obstacles while seeking a worthy goal will bring you into confrontation with yourself. How we deal with those obstacles shows us the level of our commitment, reveals to us who and what we are and of course helps us see the true value of the goals or commitments themselves.

The running medicine is the perspective and the cure for the acute stress of these moments. I like to imagine this when I'm running: My blood is coursing through my heart picking up oxygen to deliver to muscles, it's picking up waste from all of my body's tissues, from my brain and running it through its processing and waste disposal systems. My mind, my body via the blood, and my spirit are cleansed. Picturing this when I'm running keeps me focused on why I do it. For me it's a self improvement project, and perspective and spiritual house keeping are part of that. It happens in a gushing fluid rhythmic flow.

I was sitting in class today trying to listen to a lecture on cheese fermentation starter cultures and all I could think about was the fact that the room was filling up with air that had come out of the peoples' lungs around me. The CO2 that came from their exhalations had literally moments before been pushed out of cells deep inside their tissues. The moisture and gasses in that room were part of them and their metabolic processes. It's not just inhaling air that other have exhaled, it's inhaling byproducts of their cellular gas exchange systems. That is a pretty intimate exchange of fluids that is rarely noticed.

Running medicine helps me process my blood, my thoughts and my stresses. The familiarity of the activity is reassuring, the way my body drops into its rhythm and settles in to the task feels to me the way my mom used to talk about going to church. She wasn't a believer but she went for a sense of familiarity. Establishing the routine and trusting your body to do its job has a primal quality to it. It reaches back into the distant evolutionary memory of the biological organism and lets the body process and flow, trumping the mind's capacity to unleash the chemical responses to stress. They are all swept away in the tidal current of blood flow and cleansed completely.

There are days where reestablishing flow is just a really important thing to do and I'm glad I am able to get there by running it out. I'll bet you can too.

Knuckledraggers

Fall Morning Haiku

2011-11-04T03:40:00.000-07:00

November morning
Starry sky seduces me
Ran Smiley today

Ok, so I never claimed to be a poet =P

Gettin' Dirty - Zapmamak

2011-11-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Merrell Down & Dirty out at Folsom Lake

Original post by Zapmamak @ Running Naked on Sharp Pointy Stuff
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I don't know why I love dirt. And I have a very sensual relationship with mud. Maybe that's the reason I prefer to run trails and not the road. Yeah. The road feels like torture these days. I would suspect that smearing tar and gravel all over my body just wouldn't give me the same euphoric feeling as the mud pit does. But, then again, I've never smeared myself with tar so I'm not one to judge.

It could be that the mud just makes me happy. And there's scientific evidence to back up my theory. But whatever it is, the lure of mud and dirt grabbed hold of me this past weekend at the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run.

Me and my friend Caryn

I ran a whopping 5k as part of the barefoot division mostly in my huaraches and then the last mile or so completely barefoot.

I tried to run the levy a week ago barefoot just to see if I could do it, but it was WAY too gnarly for my feet. I ran about half-way on the smoothest section I could find and finally had to put my huaraches on. My soles just aren't as conditioned as they were about a year ago when I was running up to five miles barefoot on asphalt three times a week. As part of a very calculated plan to maintain uninjured status I just don't run anything longer than maybe one or two miles in sprinting intervals. My longer, slower runs are few and far between at maybe six or seven miles of trail running.

I'll take the shorter runs and less conditioning of my soles if it means I can free myself from my ITB crap. So far so good. I'm still nervously holding my breath and wondering if my latest achievement of pain-free marathon distance was just a fluke or the real deal.

So I dressed up as usual for this race, but instead of being a Dirty MILFF this year (with a very inappropriate mud pun on the back of my shirt) I decided to be a skeleton. I know. BORING. But I found some cute skeleton socks, painted a rib cage on my shirt and completed the look with a Halloween feather boa around my waist. I wasn't spooky, but I was festive!

My husband and some friends joined us this year for a fun-filled group event. My husband and his friend Mark are not runners so we knew this would be a slow, but fun event for all of us. My husband dressed up in his usual Nascar drag. A business-in-the-front-and-party-in-the-back wig and some VERY tight jeans which we were sure would split while climbing the first wall. Lucky for him they didn't.

Post mud beer

We were about a mile and a half in when Mark decided to do his motivational clapping. Think Michael Scott from the Office in the fun run for rabies episode. Yeah. It was hard not to laugh at our crew as you passed, which was happening a lot. Lots of people were passing us. Which was totally good. We were having a blast. Then the clapping turned into a sorta cheer and we all added our own part to it. I laughed so hard on that run that I nearly peed my pants. It was cold. There was lots of water and I had to pee. Ha!

So we all finished together, no man was left behind! And we did it in a record time of what? Like an hour or more? I still have no idea. I didn't even check the stats.

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This post is part of the Run:) collective.

Kourage : Running Gear That Changes Lives in Kenya

2011-11-02T08:26:00.001-07:00

I learned about Kourage Running a couple weeks ago, by stumbling on a fellow runner’s tweet. A couple clicks later, I was discovering a beautiful company with a noble goal: changing lives in Kenya. How? Simply put; “By playing by the rules”.

I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling a pang of anxiety when buying mainstream running gear, wondering where and how it was produced. In this day and age, we can’t just go around shopping, oblivious to the impact we have on our fellow humans and our home. We can’t blindly support a commercial system of exploitation, on one side, and pretend to care for the people in underprivileged countries, on the other one. Our actions and our values must be consistent.

Kourage Running is a new technical clothing company that aims at making commercial sense by helping local Kenyan people improve their lives through sound, safe and fair work. It is not a charity, it’s a business. Because that’s how you can truly make a difference in a developing country; by giving everyday people access to proper work and conditions.

After purchasing shirts in an enthusiastic show of support, I wanted to learn more about Kourage and got into an e-mail conversation with Chris, the creator of the company. He further explained Kourage’s vision and goals.

FL - How and when was the company created?

CH - Kourage was founded in 2008. I started it as a response to what I saw as an inadequacy of the fair trade movement. Fair trade is focused entirely on manufacturing. But there is much more that goes in to creating garments then actual production. I feel that to have a large impact in a developing country one must concentrate as many operations as possible within that country. I'm a runner thus the fact there was no Kenyan running apparel brand felt like a great fit.

FL – Who’s behind the company?

Chris – Founder and Chief of American Operations
Laal – Production Manager
Joseph – Fashion Designer
Makumi – Photography
Fady – Photography
Hus – Graphics, Kenyan Operations

FL - What is your mission? Your objective?

CH - Our mission is to inject as much money possible into Kenya. Economic growth is creating through goods flowing out of a country and revenue flowing in and remaining within the country. Our objectives are simple, create jobs, inject foreign revenue and investment, and show the world that developing countries have brilliant entrepreneurs!

FL - How does Kourage benefit Kenyans?

CH - We are a very small organization and we embody what it means to be a small business. Right now our impact is extremely limited. But we have the potential to inject millions of dollars into kenya and create many high end jobs.

Kourage isn't a handout. We aren't 'aid'. Giving money has a role as many individuals in Kenya are unable to feed themselves or find healthcare. But aid isn't the only solution. Instead if we want to truly develop Africa we must do business there! This is what Kourage does, we seek to hire as many Kenyan businesses possible to increase their wealth. Through hiring them these firms will create beautiful products that we will sell throughout the world and return revenues back into Kenya.

What we do isn’t as dramatic as feeding a hungry child, but if we look at the major cities throughout the world New York and Tokyo they were build through commerce, not through aid.

FL - You have operations both in the USA and Kenya. What is the role of each?
CH - Our mission is to turn Kenya into the global hub for running apparel. We would love to ship directly from Kenya to consumers throughout the world but because of customs issues, this isn’t feasible. Thus we need operations outside of Kenya to facilitate international trade. I handle press outside of Kenya, ship shirts etc., but again we always want to concentrate more and more operations within Kenya.

FL - In what way(s) are your products fair and ethical?
CH - Our clothes are produced in a factory that plays by the rules. 45-hour work week, pays at least minimum wage, offers an hour lunch break, in a well light safe non-oppressive facility. As a result of these fantastic conditions a worker rarely quits her job.

FL - Where do you see Kourage in the next 5, 10 years?

CH - Kenyan athletes will be wearing Kourage gear at the olympics, we will have a headquarters and factory in downtown Nairobi, selling everything from shoes to tracksuits. We want to turn Kenya into the running apparel capital of the world.

FL - Do you currently sponsor athletes? Is it part of your plans?
CH - Nike and others pay Kenyan runners millions of dollars. We want to focus on sponsoring Kenyan workers.

****

Kenya is the home of running legends. Let’s hope it also becomes the home of a new, improved way of sharing the wealth. Kourage is working hard to show us the way. So next time you buy a technical running shirt, get one that looks awesome and does something which will truly help other humans.

Be consistent. Buy Kourage.

Short and sweets, make life more smiley!

2011-10-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Post marathon, mid-semester, pre-thesis defense, I just don't have time to do serious training right now. I'm now doing what I call short and sweets because they just feel great and keep my head clear. When my brother was having IT band issues and other aches and pains, my advice was long winded, but on the running side I told him he had to reduce his distance to runs that never reached the point where anything hurt.

Whether you're fighting an injury, seasonal reluctance, boredom or you just don't wanna run, my solution is simple: run really short distances. I went out for a 40min run today which was perfect, and qualifies as a short and sweet in my book. It clears my head, energizes and centers me for the day, and adds one more check mark to my loooong agenda. My brother had to get his runs under two miles so his legs wouldn't act up, but that's fine!

Unless you are training for something specific, distance and speed don't matter, fun does, the benefits do. Keep in mind why you are running. I'm running for self improvement, long term health, mental clarity, and to get myself into longer and longer races because I want to. Why are you out there?

Or maybe more importantly, why aren't you? If it's because you think you're too slow or it's no fun, or the runs are too long; don't worry about speed, take the pressure and guilt out of the equation and it will be more fun, and shorten your runs. This is a form of exercise that can really benefit anyone and everyone and the benefits are most apparent when you find the way that keeps you smiling during it.

It's an excellent way to take 20min for yourself that can bring you some peace and help you get your head in the game for whatever you have to work on today. If your run is 15 minutes but those minutes give you some clarity and center you for the day, you have accomplished your goal!

Get out there and smile! It's a beautiful Autumn this year.

Good running and good living!

I just don't want to...Fall running, goals and the madness!

2011-10-22T05:45:00.001-07:00

Just a month ago there were people running everywhere. We were out in droves enjoying the last sunny warm days of Indian Summer before the inevitable. They're all gone! I've been out less, partly because I was having trouble with my legs tightening up after the marathon, and partly because of the rain and cold.

Time to set some goals. I've got mud race coming up, like this one and it's time to start getting ready for it.

The great thing about these races is that I need to do something in addition to running. I think part of the problem with my legs tightening during and after the marathon was that I didn't cross train. Now's the time.

Look, only a select few really want to be out running when it's rainy and cold. The race above was in hot sunny July and my next one is in cold dismal November. The point of the race for me is too get me back outside training. Not only that but I'm signed up with 6 or 7 other people. I don't have a huge dose of macho in me, but I've got enough to want to make sure I'm not crapping out in the middle of the pack. One of the most gratifying things about the marathon was that I was still jumping, laughing and whooping up the crowd at the end of it.

I plan on the same in November and in order to do so I'm going to have to be in fighting shape. I'm a notorious weather whiner and I have to do some work to get myself out there and motivated to train in the rain.

Number one motivator forever: GOALS!
Having a time and place set, having paid for it, having told other people, having signed other people up commits you to be ready for the event. I signed up for a late season event for exactly this reason. I need outside pressure to get me out there.

Number two helpful motivator: VARIETY
I love running. That being said it's nice to mix it up with something like jumping into green ice water in the middle of November. I feed on insanity and this is really going to be great. The last scene before the finish in the above video is us running through a field of live electrical wires. If you're having trouble getting out to run it may be that the season's races are over, the other runners have packed it in for the year and you're out there alone. Time to switch it up and train for another goal. Example: I want to be able to lift my car over my head by Spring!

Number three point to keep in mind: KNOW THYSELF!
I'm always coming back to this, but you have to know what will get you going. Getting covered with mud, frozen and electrocuted might not do it for you. Is there something wrong with you or with me?! You need to figure out what will get you out there and do it. DO IT!

If you want to join us in November in Indiana for this lovely number we'd love to have you. Either way, keep moving, keep motivated, keep the gleam in your eye and the madness in your heart...oh and did I mention the free beer at the end of the race:)

Good running and good living!

Finishing That Elusive First Ultra Marathon - Run Smiley Style

2011-10-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

A view of Fanshawe Park close to the start line of the Vulture Bait Ultra Marathon

All I can say is, Wow what an experience, there is no other way to describe it participating and finishing your first ultra has got to be one of the most satisfying moments I have ever been involved in. Don't get me wrong, meeting my future wife, my marriage and the birth of my kids are tops in my books but holy crap this is way up there. A few years ago I couldn't even run a mile without falling over in pain, and here I am today finishing my first ultra marathon and barefoot to boot (or should that read shoe to barefoot?). Now, let me clear it has not been a smooth path getting to this point, more like a very rocky and sometimes frustrating one to say the least. If you were not aware this was our second attempt at finishing this race, last year both Nicole and I DNF'ed and it weighed on the back of our minds for the last year with the intent to rectify that wrong. Now that being said the both of us probably did not have the mindset nor the training to realistically finish last year, but it was still left a very bitter taste in the both of our mouths that we did not. I pulled my groin after 30 plus km and pulled myself from the race at 48km finally once I realized I could not go any further. Even though there was only 2 km left to finish, I did not feel doing permanent damage to my groin was worth it, at the time. Nicole was pulled after 25 km because she did not make the cutoff, she was having to much fun taking pictures and talking to everybody on the course that she lost track of time, so there were officially two wrongs to be corrected, not only finishing but proving to ourselves that we both have the ability and the drive to push through, and persevere the adversities to the ultimate goal of finishing.

It has been a year in the making, a lot of ups and downs for both Nicole and I as all our nicely laid out plans of getting an official 50 km ultra done this year was looking like a complete bust. First of all our first scheduled event in May, the Manitoba Trail Ultra at Spruce Woods, was rescheduled to August due to major flooding throughout Southern Manitoba. Then in August it was cancelled for the second time and for the year due to unsafe conditions as deemed by the Race Director and Manitoba Conservation. This is why it is so important to have a good race director, even though we were disappointed that the race was cancelled I do not want myself or anyone else to participate in a race that is deemed unsafe due to trail conditions. Also the Lemming Loop Run was also cancelled due to unsafe conditions, and finally we did not believe we had the funds to get back to Vulture Bait in London, ON to get another crack at finishing that one. But with some creative financing and some planning, we officially signed up on October 7th, for the race to held on October 15. Wow, it has been a year of late registrations, nothing like planning ahead, oh well what fun would that be right?

So the last minute preparations started in earnest, including flight reservations, hotel, car rental, sucking up to my sister so she will watch the kids while we are away (just kidding on this one, my sister is the best, she helps us out all the time with our crazy little adventures, sometimes I think the kids want us to go away more just so my sis' gets to watch them). The biggest challenge is to decide what running gear to take, the conditions were calling for cool and light rain, gear is always important in this type of race because you are out there for 5 to 7 hours, a lot of different weather conditions can happen in that time period. Oh well at least the footwear issue is taken care of, that would be none and my ZEMGear 360's as my emergency toe covers just in case. We were flying into Hamilton on Friday and then a short drive down the 403 to London followed by a quick dinner at Tony Roma's then hopefully some sleep. Well it was wishful thinking, but sleep was not going to come easy Friday night, to much anticipation and preparation of game plans swirling in my head. In total I think I managed about 4 hours, not a good thing because Saturday was going to be a long and draining day.

6:00 am, Saturday morning came quicker then the both of us really wanted, it was a slow drag of our posteriors out of bed, organization and finalization of running gear to be worn, put on BRS shirt, take off, rethink what I was wearing, put on Bismark marathon shirt, assess, no this is not right, take off, put back on original shirt, realize that I forgot to glide the nipples (very important, don't want that rub, rub, bleed effect), shirt comes back off, glide, then shirt goes back on again. I think I am ready, nope forgot my shorts, put shorts on, find my hat, Northface jacket and gloves good to go. No, wait something missing, think, think, hmmm what could it be, oh yes must find 360's, can't go to breakfast with no shoes this early in the morning they might think I was weird or something. By this time I think Nic was all ready to go and was patiently waiting for me, wow this is kind of ironic, usually it is the other way around. After a quick really awful breakfast (thankfully it was free but I still almost considered asking for a refund), we packed up the car and checked out. The weather was not the best, off and on rain, about 5 degrees Celsius and a stiff north wind, it was going to be an interesting run, that much I was sure of.

I know I will regret this but I have to explain our drive to Fanshawne Park from my perspective, prior to Nicole attempts to twist things around. Nicole asked me the night before if I knew where I was going, of course I said yes no problem, because I was quite sure I would remember the route as we drove there. Just because I didn't remember the street names that we need to turn on really doesn't mean I didn't know how to get there right? Well withholding this tidbit of information apparently was not a good idea, as Nicole didn't figure she needed to set the location in the GPS to assist in getting us to where we needed to be, well as we drove towards downtown I haphazardly mentioned that the first street we needed to turn on started with a 'D', Dundas or something like that and the next turn would be at a street that I couldn't remember the name but there was a Brick or something like that on the corner. Well this did not go over so well, so as Nicole lovingly chastised me for not relaying this information earlier she starting frantically entering info into the GPS to secure directions. That was when I spot Dundas and cheerfully mentioned, "Oops that was the street we wanted, so I proceeded up to the next street to double back. Once on Dundas we headed east and I started picking out familiar landmarks from last year. Now more confident I would recognize the street to turn towards the park on, I mentioned that I knew I would be on the right road, because I remembered a particular monster truck that was parked as a display in a customization shop. Well once again this did not go over to well, I really didn't consider that the display that was able to be moved might not be there a year after I had seen it last, hmmm food for thought. Anyway as we got closer to the turn, I spotted what I was looking for, The Home Depot on the corner (yeah I know what your thinking, Home Depot is not the Brick, that was exactly what Nicole said, but it does sell bricks does it not). As we headed up the road I saw my monster truck and this little smile creeped across my face and Nicole just shook her head, I did not say a word. After that, it was smooth sailing to the race start.

Nicole and I 'Toeing the Line' Before the Run

We got to the start, parked and headed to pick up race kits, got some comments about my shoe choice (decided to not mention at that point that I was not going to wear them for the run) and just got prepared for the race to come, also would like to note that Nicole won a door prize this year to go with her early entry draw prize last year, and I won squat. After the explanation of the rules and the all the other pre-race info delivery, we started heading down the hill for the start line.

The Runners Making Their Ways Down To The Start

Nicole and I Prior To The Start

(Still Clean)

There was alot of anxious anticipation by the both of us to get going as we milled around more towards the back of the pack. With all that nervous energy I was looking around at all the different runners and checking out the reservoir when I notice a pair of bald eagles gracefully gliding through the air just over the water. Dipping and diving, obviously looking for breakfast, it was just what I needed to calm all the nervous energy that was building in me. Appropriately we had the best fly by that could be had to start a race of this type, it was very fitting, all we needed was a vulture to appear and the day was set. I just stopped and started watching them as they floated in the sky together without a hint of effort totally free of any apparent worries, just being together was all that seemed to matter. This became my goal for the day. I was going to start and finish this race with my wife with no care of time, just finishing with my partner in life, so we can enjoy every minute of it together. With this thought, all the nervousness went away, a smile creeped onto my face as I pulled off my shoes to get ready for the signal to go.

A pair of eagles flying together over the reservoir prior to the start of the race.

(Who needs a plane flyover when nature provides one for you)

As the signal to begin was sounded there was the ever present slow movement of runners as the pack proceeded onto the trail. The conditions were going to add to the challenge of this run, with the cooler temperatures, the off and on drizzle and the gusting winds in the open areas it was going to be interesting to see what shape the trails would be in as the day went on. With a smile to Nicole, and a quick 'Are you ready', we headed off. I had some comments from some of the runners about my bare feet, but that was fairly typical at the start of any race. That was when I heard someone from the starter's area, chime in with this little dosey, "You are going to regret not wearing shoes for this." The only thing I could think of at the time was, "I would only regret wearing shoes for this." But I just let it go because nobody was going to ruin this day for me and we started to pass some runners. As the runners started to spread out, we were just enjoying the run, not trying to go to fast, but ensuring we were going fast enough. The intent was to finish the first 25 km in around 3 hours, because the cut off would be 3 1/2 hours at the half way point and if you were not finished the first 25 km by that point you would not be aloud to go any further. I was going to ensure that this was not going to happen again to Nicole.

The first 5km of the race was criss-crossing through some easy trails from one side of the access road to the other using a combination of different walking trails. The route at this point was pretty flat and easy to keep a good quick pace due to the easy terrain. The ground cover consisted of hard pack dirt, to grass, a little bit of gravel and a good carpet of soft pine needles. What a treat this was to run on, talk about varying the sensations to your feet, especially since everything was still damp due to the week or so of rain that the area had been getting. A prelude of what was to come later in the run presented itself as we entered the first real wooded area, it was a dirt single track (which turned into mud) with some areas of leave coverage. Lots of downed trees and branches littered the trail along with some good ups and downs. Let me say, after this run I have learned the importance of why to slow down to achieve good traction with barefeet, because if you go to fast you will end up skating everywhere with no control (I almost ended up going off a cliff at one point). Needless to say this area did slow us down a little bit, with gauging for traction, keeping an eye out for those ever jumping out to surprise you tree roots and rocks, and of course the occasional good hearted splash through a puddle. I had a couple more comments about my lack of foot coverings, which I quickly corrected them on by saying, "I've got a nice layer of mud developing here, does that not count." This got a couple of giggles and some strange looks, but darn it I was having fun.

A view of the damn from the first aid station

As we tromped out of the woods adjacent the dam we hit the first aid station, a rather busy place at that point with about 10 to 15 runners re hydrating themselves by grabbing water, Heed, Coke or an assortment of other good ultra sugar type treats. The volunteers were working like a well-oiled machine, as a cup of fluid disappeared another one magically appeared, no one was waiting for anything. These volunteers were awesome, they did not miss a beat, but with them being so busy I was able to sneak in and out with a coke, a chocolate chip cookie and a hand full of chocolate covered raisins to help with the refueling process.

Nicole had a glass of water and a Gu to help refuel, I was personally leaving my Gu's till a little later as it was still early. As we were getting ready to head out of the parking lot and up the gravel road to the main road, all I hear is a 'Holy crap, he's got no shoes on!". I looked around with this look on my face, and said, "Where? Oh, you mean me? My shoes are right here", as I held up my shoes with a grin and we started heading up the road. We passed by a number of runners up the road, with a couple of "Doesn't that hurt", "Wow that is crazy" and " Your the man" comments, my responses in order were, "Nope, feels great", "Not really, quite natural really" and "Thanks, right back at you!"

As we pulled out onto the road to head across the dam seen above we hit our first bit of traffic, I was getting some weird looks from some of the vehicles and thumbs up by others. This was also our first encounter with the wind as it picked up to the point that it blew the hat right off of my head, luckily it did not go over the edge so I was able to sprint back and pick it up.

Nicole heading to the dam crossing making good time

As we continued down the road towards the front gate with some quick cuts into the woods for some more trails we were heading to one of my favorite parts of the run. Just beyond the gate, we turn into the evergreens and follow a path of soft pine needles that winds through the trees like a outstretched red carpet. It is the most surreal feeling as you enter this area, it's so peaceful you get lost in the beauty of it all, then you loose focus and trip over a outstretched tree root, bringing you back to reality.But it was nice as it lasted, but it also gets you prepared for the focus that is required for the trails to come which is the beginning of the technical trails.

Don't let the looks of the trail fool you, this is actually a treat to run on soft pine needles with the occasional stick or root to jab you in the foot just to keep you on your toes.

Once you exit this area, there is a short jaunt up an old jeep trail to another gravel road along the south part of the reservoir. This is another perfect spot to pick up the pace normally before you get into the ups and downs of the technical single track trails to come. Normally on a dry day the trails are challenging but fun because you can really fly over them, at least that was my experience last year. But this year with all the rain they have turned into a very muddy, slippery trail, especially with all the foot traffic that was trampling over it today (over 300 pairs of trail shoes and one pair of trail skin). Normally I attack the uphills and pick my way through the obstacles but with all the rain, I could not get any traction at all, so I had revise my running strategyy completely. Instead of running light and landing more on the midfoot with my toes slightly curled up, i had to had to be a little more heavy with the landing and dig my toes down in the mud to help stabilize my balance.This was definitely more of a challenge and having to concentrate more on footing and my balance through a larger twist into the run. When I mentioned skating earlier in the post I was not kidding, as my feet got muddier (at one point I had about an inch thick layer of mud on my feet) it was harder to get any traction at all and my feet continued to slip out from under me. So I went with it, where I found that the mud was the slickest, I started this skating motion with my running and concentrated on keeping my balance by utilizing my arms as stabilizing bars, it worked really well. That is until I got to a down hill portion of the trail, skating down a hill with barefeet over roots and rocks, not a good idea. This caused me to walk most downhills or find a path least travelled in the underbrush so I had traction. There was one hill in particular that led down to a bridge over a stream, last year I ran down it really quickly, this year it took me a couple of minutes to negotiate my way down. I was definitely using a lot of different muscle combinations to not only stay upright on my feet but to ensure I did not go sliding off the trail into trees or off the side of a cliff.

Me negotiating down a hill

This was a standard trail lots of mud but the

leaves actually helped with traction.

One of the hills up, this was a lot steeper than it looks

and lots of squishy between the toes mud

Last year I was proud to say I did not fall or trip once at this race, this year I was not so lucky. I hit the mud 3 times on the first lap as I tried to figure out my footing tactics, and it must of worked because I did not hit the ground again on the second lap, so what ever I did to compensate did the trick. I will admit there was a few times when it was pretty close, but I was able to keep my balance. We were still keeping a decent pace going back and forth with a bunch of runners including Raymond who was running his first 25km and Marcel our very optimistic Frenchman who keep telling Nicole, "You will finish, you have to believe you will finish!" This is very true advise, you do have to believe you can do it, any negative thoughts and that will play on you and odds are you will not finish the race.

Aid stations 2 (12 km mark) and 3 (18 km mark) were not quite as busy when we arrived, the majority of the faster runners were quite a bit further ahead of us and that was ok. We stopped for some water and some quick snacks and headed out as quickly as possible. The terrain between aid station 2 and 3 consisted of asphalt road, chip and seal, a little bit of gravel and more awesome trails. The trails were really messy, and I had to let a few runners by for fear of holding them up to much, traction was still a bit of an issue. I was definitely utilizing a different combination of leg muscles at every turn, trying to stabilize myself or keep moving forward, this was becoming one hell of a workout, but I was enjoying every minute of it. About the half way point between the second and third aid stations there is a crazy steep hill that you have to go down, normally I take it fairly slow due to the loose rocks that cover the entire single track length. But this time add the slippery mud and this was a really interesting challenge, I was actually contemplating sliding down on my butt, but I figured that would hurt more than if I tried to negotiate my way down. Once I was down I had to pick up the speed to catch up with Nicole again who scaled the hill like a mountain goat, I am still amazed at how she just cruises down all the hills with little to no trouble at all. We were still making good time, at the rate we were going we would come in at the half way point at about 3 hours, that would give us 4 hours to complete the second loop.

Between Aide stations 3 and 4 there are some more asphalt roads, single track trail, a creek crossing and my favorite area for the entire race. That would be entering an area of pines that create a corridor or a canopy over your head its so quiet you could hear a pin drop or a shoad runner clomping away at least. It goes really quiet through this area and the ground is covered with red soft pine needles that make it seem like you are running on a thick soft red carpet absolutely awesome feeling on bare feet. Its like you are running down a aisle towards the front and everybody is watching you and silently cheering you on. It is a very surreal feeling, one that I quite enjoy. I was still finding that I was skating quite a bit, so I started running back and forth between the mud trail and the areas beside the trail to see if I could find a bit more traction. It appeared to be working cause I was able to pick up some speed and make my way by a few runners. There were quite a few areas where I had to slow down and pick my way through but for the most part I was quite happy with the pace that we were keeping through this stage of the race. When we hit Thorndale Road and crossed the bridge over the river, the rain was starting to come down a bit and the wind picked up. It was a bit of a challenge through that area until we reached the trail head again at the top of the hill. But once we got back into the woods again it was smooth sailing except for the mud. As we reached the creek crossing I just smiled, everybody was complaining about having to get their feet and shoes wet and the water was higher than last year, etc. I just did a quick look for the quickest path through and jumped on in and negotiated my way to the other side. It was great, very refreshing and I was able to get most of the mud off of my legs and feet at the same time. The bigger challenge was getting up the hill on the other side to the trail because there was nothing left of the ground that would work for traction just mud, so you had to make your way into the brush a little bit to get a hold of some tree branches to help pull you up.

The creek crossing, last year you could see the rocks out of the water but not this year.

Note the mud hill on the other side not easy getting up.

This is the very scenic part of the trail, single track running along the river for most of it, including some areas where the ground just drops off towards the river. It was really interesting at corners here, because if I did not have my footing in check I would of just slipped and slid right off the trail and the cliff. So needless to say I made sure I was planting my feet on as solid ground as I could find.

By the time we reached the 4th aide station at 22 km we were quite excited because we knew the first loop was almost done and we were in great shape to reach our half way point goal. I took my first Gu at this stop because I felt it was important to start the energy boost now and not leave it to late. Everything was going good, both Nicole and I had lots of spring in our steps and were raring to 'Get er Done'. As we came out of the woods by the golf course, we ran into this volunteer who was screaming her head off, then she saw my feet and her eyes opened wide. I wasn't sure if she was surprised by my bare feet or that I was carrying a very clean pair of shoes in my hands. I was a little amazed that my shoes were still as clean as they were as well, but they were new and I didn't want to get them all messy unless I had too. There was a good group of us running towards the finish area and cut off for the next lap, and once again the majority of them veered off to the finish line, and only 4 of us veered to the left. I yelled 'Great run' at Raymond as he headed to the finish line, this was his first 25km run and he did fantastic. As we passed the mid point we were at 3 hours and a minute (plus or minus a few seconds), so I looked at Nicole and said half way there lets go finish this off. Nicole was estactic because she had made it past the half way point and she wasn't getting pulled.

With objective one done, we headed out onto lap number 2, we ran with a gentleman named Hans for the first 3 or 4 km of the second lap. What an inspiration, he is a 78 year old great grandfather who has been running numerous ultra marathons over the last few years. He was out here running the race with his grandson (who finished way ahead of us), and was going to continue to run for as long as he was able. He looked strong and had no signs of fatigue at all, I just hope I can do what he does at his age that would be awesome. The funny thing was he keep telling me he was in awe of me because I was running this barefoot, and I kept turning it back around to him, and he keep shaking it off like it was no big deal. I had the pleasure of meeting his family after the run including his wife, his son, grandson and great grandsons and they were a treat to talk too.

As we hit the first aide station again, we stopped for a bit longer as Nicole had to use the facilities and I started talking to the volunteers. One of them remembered me from last year as the barefoot runner with the kilt. It was interesting, it seems I was the talk of the course for going out barefoot again this year and with the conditions that were at hand to boot. So after some questions and answers, Nicole and I headed out up the gravel road to a bunch of good lucks and have a great run. I really like how all the volunteers are so friendly and appear to be having a good time. Its also amazing the selection of drinks and food products that they have available even this late into the run.

Everything was going great as we went along, we ran over the dam, passed the gate, ran the pine needles hit the dirt roads and boy was I smiling as we passed the spot where I put my VFF's on last year. My feet were feeling fantastic, no ill effects of running 35 kms without shoes, I could sense it I was going to finish this thing off without my shoes. That was objective two complete, now just one more to go and then the big finish, things were looking good and both Nicole and I were getting more and more confident as we progressed. Its funny one of the reasons that Nicole got pulled last year was because she was camera happy and taking to many pictures. So what do we do this year, we stop and take pictures, it seems to be a trend with our runs, we are out to finish but we are also out to just have fun, Run Smiley Style.

Nicole looking relaxed, confident and

fantastic at 38 kms

The time slowly ticked away as we passed Aide Station 2 and then 3, we were still making good time but there were some areas where we had to walk up hills or down hills because the traction was not there. But I do have to say, other than forced walks due to conditions we did not walk very much at all. I was very happy with that, I felt strong for pretty much the entire run, my legs were finally starting to get a little heavy from all the extra muscle work near the end. The traction was a little better on the second lap as well on the flats, unlike the first lap where I was slipping and sliding everywhere, this lap I seemed to figure it out. Things were going fairly smoothly as we carried along the trails. I will say I did end up stepping on a couple of roots or stones that were hidden within the puddles on the trail but other than that everything went perfectly.

As we hit the 4 aide station, we had about 25 minutes to finish the last 3 or so km, so after a little bit of refueling we set off. This was objective three, last year I pulled myself out at this aide station because my groin would let me go no further, so the perma-grin attached itself to my face for the rest of the way. I was glad that there were no bugs out, because I would of been eating lots of protein with me showing all that teeth. So here we were at about 47 or 48 kms in, and only a couple more to go and we would be officially finished our first ultra marathon, who would of thunk it.

1 km to go, woo hoo!

As we hit the 1 km remaining sign, we had to stop to take a picture to commemorate the occasion, because damn it we were almost done. A little bit of gravel road, some single track and a grass run to the finish line and the nemesis that is the first ultra is done. As we broke out onto the grass to some cheering, all we hear is 'sprint the last little bit to the finish'. All I can think is, but I am sprinting can't you tell. As we got to the timing pad, Nicole and I finished like we started, we crossed the line at the exact same time, 6 hours 56 minutes and zero seconds (not the best time but for the conditions I will take it). So the last goal was completed to start together and to finish together, my partner in life and my partner in running. We did it, together, now how many people can say that, at least I know I can.

What a day, what a great weight off our shoulders, now we can move onto the next challenge.

Nicole and I after we finished, notice the nice shiny metals

and my nice clean shoes.

Better shot of my barefeet and yes we are tired but still standing.

Just a little bit dirty but the ZEM 360's are clean

They performed admirably sitting in my hands.

Vulture Bait 50 km done like dinner.

I'm running 100 miles to raise money for kids this weekend

2011-10-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

This Saturday I will be running in the 100 mile endurance run from Corona to the Santa Monica through 23 cities.

The race is fundraiser for the 100 mile club, an organisation I hold dear to my heart.

Philosophy of the 100 Mile Club

Our philosophy is simple. We believe that every individual has the ability to achieve true personal success and a new level of physical fitness by Accepting the Challenge of running (or walking) 100 Miles at school during a single school year. These feelings of true personal success and fitness are ones that will carry participants to new levels of achievement in all areas: academics, athletics, and implementation of the valuable life skills identified in the bricks of Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.

The 100 Mile Club is a personal journey toward a very personal goal. It is not a race with anyone but yourself. We NEVER compare students. We never race or compete between classes or students to see who makes 100 miles “first”. 100 Mile Club is not an external competition. The competition is with your biggest rival: yourself. We celebrate all personal successes at the end of the school year. 100 miles or not, we award students together, celebrate together, and never separate out those that make 100 miles from those that do not. The personal successes students feel while on the100 Mile Club journey are unquantifiable but ever-present. We celebrate those most of all.

I am raising money for the 100 mile club by running in the 100 mile Endurance Challenge. If you would like to help donate to the organization please click HERE or check out the link on the top right of this blog. Even a donation of $10 can pay for kid's membership for one year. The 100 mile club often involves itself with inner city schools where parents cannot afford even a cost as small as this. These are the same kids who's parents can not afford to put them in others sports such as soccer or basketball.

I'm not really good at begging and pleading for donations so I will end with this. If you have a couple extra dollars the 100 mile club could sure use your help. I have seen first hand how it can change the lifes of a child. Last year I got my Nephew's school involved with the program and it has been a roaring success for the children the parents and even got their principal running.

Donate Here

If you would like to get your school involved please contact me or the 100 mile

club directly and we will do what we can to get your kid's moving and keep kids running Smiley

If you want to see a full preview of the course you can read about here.

100 mile Endurance Challenge Preview

The race can be followed at twitter

http://twitter.com/#!/100ec

A Race Car

2011-10-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

I checked for traffic before pulling out onto the track. The first few laps were slow as I made sure everything was running correctly and the rubber adequately warmed up.

The song I was listening to changed as I approached the green flag. It was just the kind of song that gets your adrenaline pumping, if your not already engaged in a heart pumping activity. I crossed that line and put the accelerator down.

I cruised around the first bend. I held onto my speed between turns 1 and 2. I felt like a sling-shot coming out of turn 2 heading down the back straight-a-way. As I entered turn 3, I knew I was pushing the laws of physics. Would the rubber hold?

It did and my confidence grew from there. Turn 4 was gone before I even realized I had entered it. I sped through the front straight-a-way gaining speed. My first lap complete.

Gently, I let up on my accelerator just enough to let the momentum and friction pull me through the first couple of turns without going careening off the track. I pulled out of the turn into the straight-a-way, my favorite section. I went faster. My second lap complete.

I was in a groove. I was fast in the straight-a-ways and tight in the turns. The spectators barely breathed as I went by. My time for each lap was consistent. I drove a well-oiled machine.

I was about to win the race car championship... or I was about to finish another run on an inside track at the gym. Who says watching the same scenery go by every 10th of a mile can't be fun?

A Barefoot Rose By Any Other Name

Epic Redemption - My First Marathon Fiyah!

2011-10-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sunrise on the trail at Mile 5

Original Post from Zapmamak @ Running Naked on Sharp Pointy Stuff
WARNING: This post contains inappropriate language used appropriately for emphasis.
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Sometimes you just feel something in your gut and you know you have to do it. That's how I felt when I signed up for the Rock-N-River 50 Miler and Marathon. And even at the exact moment when I was registering I had serious doubts about a lot of things. Mostly whether my body could hang for the marathon portion (27.7) miles, but also about my nutrition, my training, my abilities and my limits. I had a lot of questions and a deep layer of doubt and hesitation. I messaged Seth, my coach, to explain my concerns. Here's an excerpt from his original reply...

June 4, 2011

"As far as you doing it here is my answer. If you have doubt and don't think you can, then I don't think you can either. Now if you think you can, I am 100% confident you can...Ya its going to be hard, ya its going to hurt, but who cares. If you don't even sign up and try it you will never know and you will never have even given yourself the chance...

For example... you may be thinking this is an extremely rough and hard course, but you need to be saying to yourself who cares what the course is. Its another run and I will finish it. You keep telling yourself these things and soon you will believe it and once you believe it that's game over. You will go out there and dominate. Plus, if for some reason you don't finish you won't care because you know you went out there and gave it everything and never doubted yourself. "

Yeah. I needed a serious talking to at that point. He tells me I think too much, which I do. Essentially, he was trying to tell me the same thing my old X-country coach told me on every long run in high school - "Get your head out of your ass and just run!!!"

I decided that if I was going to do this I had better commit myself 100% and just do it. It was just a trail marathon. People do marathons all the time. But, honestly, the hardest part about preparing myself for an event like this wasn't the physical training. It was reprogramming my brain for a goal that I had been telling myself for years that I would never be able to achieve.

I spent the next couple months feeling in my heart that I was going to totally DO THIS. I just knew I could do it. I felt strong. I felt completely capable. I felt totally badass. I was supersonic. You couldn't stop me.

And then about three weeks prior to this marathon my confidence started to fail. I hadn't ran one race this year where I didn't have IT Band issues. Why would this marathon be any different? I will be lucky if I can get to mile six before I can't bend my left leg.

Funny thing is these negative thoughts kind of took me by surprise. I had been trying out some mental tools that my neighbor, Kirsten Lewis, from Awesomeness of You had been giving me to work through my doubts (she works with professional athletes giving them mental "tools" and strategies to find their edge, up their game and change their negative thinking) but for some reason I was having a hard time finding the time to listen to her mantras and follow her advice. I wasn't doing my homework.

But something happened after New York. The energy from all those people was amazing! It was hard not to be inspired by so many incredible athletes, mentors, and fellow BFRs. It was meant to be that I be there. It may have saved my confidence. After New York I decided I was going to Run Smiley this marathon 100%. My only goal was to get my ass to the first aid station and see how I felt from there. I could totally do that.

So on race day I woke up at 3:30am. I didn't intend on waking up that early, but for some reason my body woke up about a half hour before my alarm went off. There was no way I would get myself back to sleep so I dragged my ass out of bed.

The good thing about waking up extra early is that it gave me a little more extra time to roll my knees, quads and glutes. I grabbed my coffee first (hoping to get "things" moving along) and had a couple paleo pancakes with bananas and some granola.

My husband and I arrived at race start around 5:45am. There was already a bus load of runners who had been dropped off by the shuttle. There were maybe a couple hundred runners with 45 of us running the marathon portion. At first look the race seemed a little disorganized. The race website had no detail trail map or elevation profile, but I had ran a few of the trails up here and around the lake near Granite Bay so I wasn't too worried about the trails. I had no idea, however, where the start line was and which direction we would be running. Nothing was marked out from the the beginning of the race, but it was dark so I figured I just hadn't seen all the markings. I debated on whether to wear my headlamp. I pulled it on over my waist and decided I would hand it off to my husband once I saw him at Rattlesnake Bar about 9 miles in. It was still pretty dark.

I expected to run this race solo. I didn't know of anyone else who had signed up, but I was surprised to see some familiar faces from my old trail running group. A few of them were running the marathon with me. It felt good to know people.

The one person I did not expect to see on race day was my coach and mentor, Seth. He's been struggling with some serious back pain lately. An injury he got while in the marines has drastically affected his mobility and he's on copious amounts of pain meds and waiting for surgery as I write this. He messaged me the day before telling me I was going to do great and wished me luck, but, when I turned around and saw him standing a few feet away I almost got teary. ALMOST. I'm not a weepy, teary type, but it moved me to see him and totally made my day. I can honestly say I would have never even been at that start line if it weren't for him. It made me feel really special that he was there to see me off, especially knowing how much pain he was in.

So I'm getting ready and I hear the race directors yelling out something about the first aid station not having any fuel and to make sure we load up here or grab something to go since the next aid won't be until nine miles in. That was fine. I was set with my race iskiate (my homemade power gel) and nuun and I was shoving a banana in my face as they were yelling at me. I also heard something inaudible about the first part of the trail. Apparently, they were giving directions and I couldn't hear a word. That's OK, I was thinking, cuz I'll just follow the front of the pack 50 milers who were probably hanging on every word. Um. Yeah. Good plan.

The race starts and the runners are sprinting at a good clip which was totally weird to me. I'm thinking, isn't this a 50 miler and marathon? Shouldn't people be conserving their energy and chilling in the beginning? I forgot that the first couple miles was all downhill and the 50 miler was a qualifier for the Western States 100 so most of the front pack runners were probably taking advantage of the steep downhill to ensure they reached their cut-off time to qualify.

The trail

I turn on my headlamp when we get to the first dirt trail and follow the pack. We eventually turn left onto a fire road and go almost a mile down into the canyon when I hear someone yell back up "WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!" Then I see some of the front pack start climbing back up the hill past us. What the fuck??!! Are you serious? Does anybody know where they're fucking going? Someone needs to text the race director and figure this shit out!

One group takes an unmarked gravel road off to the right. Some of the runners continue down the canyon ignoring everyone else. I decide to follow the third group back up the hill to find where we fucked up and missed the turn-off since I've never raced this particular race and I don't know where the hell I'm going. So I ruck it back up to the top of the road with about twenty other runners. Yeah. No biggie. I just added another mile and a half to an already 27.7 mile MARATHON. And its a nice steep mile and a half. Yeah. No biggie. Let's just make it an even 30 shall we? Cuz, really, what's another 2.3 miles after you've ran 27.7 miles of hard trail, right?

Sunrise on the American River

Once on the right trail I finally settled in and made my way down into the canyon. It wasn't long before I had to pee though. Typical. Yeah. I specifically try not to drink much right before a race because I'm like a nervous Chihuahua on race day. You know? The little dog that runs around really fast when it gets excited and pees all over the place? That's me. So even though there was no fuel at the first aid station there was at least a decent enough porta potty. So I used it. Then I proceeded to pee about four more times off trail before mile five which was a tricky situation since a lot of the trail was flanked by a steep uphill slope on one side and a sheer drop-off on the other. Seriously? Did my bladder really have to let go of a week's worth of hydration all on race day? Sheesh.

Getting close to Rattlesnake Bar

The trail was absolutely gorgeous once daylight started breaking. I stopped and took pictures. I facebooked. Yeah. I did that cuz I was Running Smiley. Even after the trail fail start I was amazingly calm and by around mile five I still hadn't felt any knee pain. Actually, I had no clue what time it was or how far I'd gone or what my pace was. Except for my ipod in my pocket and my phone, I had no technology whatsoever. Even when I was on my phone facebooking and never looked at the time. It felt good not to know anything. The only thing I cared about was enjoying every single step of trail running fiyah!

Coming into Rattlesnake Bar around mile 9

And HOLY SHIT did I have FIYAH! By around mile 12 or 13 the carbs started kicking in (I have no idea why it took so long for me to feel it.) The clouds parted. Sunbeams rained down. Angels sang. There were rainbows and unicorns everywhere. I swear I felt like I was high on something. It was as if my body went from driving a Pinto to driving a Corvette. I was supersonic. I was flying!

This is me on carbs around mile 16

When I saw my husband on his bike mid-trail around mile 16 he was surprised at how happy and full of energy I was. In fact I think I ran towards him screaming something like "CARBS ARE BETTER THAN CRACK!!!" Yeah. I was that high. I told him I would meet him at the next aid station but when I got there he wasn't there. He was carrying my Nuun so I hung out for a couple minutes, ate a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then finally decided to used the Heed supplied by the aid station instead so I could keep moving. Apparently, I ran too fast for my husband to catch up. On his bike.

It was at this point that I suddenly realized how far I had gotten without any inkling of IT Band issues at all. I was starting to feel some tightening in my hips and the backs of my heels were feeling just a tad sore, but I could totally deal with these minor issues. These little aches and pains were nothing compared to the crippling knee pain that I've typically felt around mile six in the past.

I was ecstatic. I had about ten more miles to go. I promised myself that if I still felt good at mile 23 that I would up my pace and push with everything I had to make up for all the messing around I did on the trail prior to that point. And that's just what I did.

My husband picked up the trail on his mountain bike to meet me around mile 20 (which was totally against race rules) and rode along side of me until the next aid station. It was nice to talk to him and have some company.

The last ten miles the trail evened out into a wide fire road

It was at that point we did the "Happy-Hour-Hand-Off." I had mixed up a small batch of happy hour iskiate to be consumed within the last couple miles of the race if I made it that far. It was going to be my way of celebrating my personal achievement (or coping with a failed attempt if for some reason I had to quit mid-race.) This particular recipe excluded the normal chia seeds and instead had about one measure of gin mixed with 4oz. of water, some sugar, lime and my tropical flavored Nuun. It was tastily potent, slightly naughty and I spilled half of it all over myself at mile 26 trying to open it. I was rocking the running (or at least it felt like I was) and had passed about eight or so runners near the end of the race reeking of gin. But, I didn't give a shit if I smelled like a sweaty bum cuz I was on top of the world at that point!

Granite Bay

No more dirt trail... I decided to run the shoulder

By this time all the dirt had disappeared under my feet and in its place I found myself running on asphalt bike trail. If there ever was any low point in my race (and honestly, I really didn't have one) this would have been it. I was a little disappointed to see asphalt. Gone were the rocks and grasses, trees and rutted, sandy trails. I could hear traffic. It bummed me out a little, so I plugged myself into my music, got out my happy hour and decided to focus on running as hard as I could to the finish.

Trail Marathon Happy Hour

My husband met me at about a mile away from the finish line and joked with me how I only had 23 more miles to go, which was NOT the thing to say to me at that point. If I wasn't using every ounce of what was left in me to run the shit out of the last bit of that race I would have slapped him. Instead, I waved him off from my pain cave and mumbled something inaudible about not talking to me. But it was nice to have him beside me to run with me into the finish line.

I won the Blue Ribbon!!! Well, the Pabst Blue Ribbon anyway. But I did it! I totally did it!! And PAIN FREE!!! Well, relatively pain free cuz my hip was hurting a bit more at the end. I was so proud of what I accomplished. Words can't even begin to describe the feeling I had finishing that race. I had such an incredible time and really did enjoy every moment.

I earned a Blue Ribbon!

Not only did I complete my first trail marathon, but I finished almost 29 fucking miles of it! And not only did I do almost 29 miles, but I did almost 29 fucking miles in my minimal shoes (my Merrell Pace Gloves). And not only did I complete almost 29 miles in minimal shoes, but I did it with NO long slow distance runs under my belt. And not only did I complete almost 29 fucking miles in minimal shoes with no LSD runs, but I did it pain free with no IT Band crap holding me back!!!!

Funny. I was only expecting to complete a marathon. Now THAT'S what I call RUNNING FUCKING FIYAH!!!

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This post is part of the Run:) collective.

5 Tips to Help You Race Smiley

2011-10-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make.

I recently ran a race. A road race. And I tried to run very fast . . . and (this is hard for me to say) I set a PR. There. It's out. I hope Kate doesn't excommunicate me from the Collective, but I have to be honest. I ran hard, and it hurt. But I also had a blast. In fact it was a completely Smiley experience, proving once again that running smiley and kicking-ass can go hand in hand.

Anyway, it spawned two bits of writing, and I thought I'd share them with the collective. First, I wrote up a race-report over at my blog for anyone interested in the play-by-play of the fast and fun Bed-Stuy 10K.

I was also inspired by the experience to write an article for Active.com giving some advice on how to have a blast at your next road race. Just a few things to keep in mind the next time you tow a starting line to make sure you finish fast AND smiley.

A Call To Barefoot / Minimalist Trail Runners

2011-10-17T11:50:00.001-07:00

This is a humble request for feedback from experienced minimalist trail runners, some of which I have personally called out to, like Barefoot Ted, Daniel Dubois, Jason Robillard, Michael Sandler and Patrick Sweeney. But at this point, I’m really interested by opinions from everyone with experience. I am looking forward to reading your comments / advice.

I won’t tell you the whole story of how I got into barefoot / minimalist running, I’ve done that before. But for the sake of comprehension, I need to mention that I started barefooting to break an unending circle of injury, notably of IT Band problems. I’ve been (road) running barefoot for over two years now, with great satisfaction and success.

I rediscovered trail running this summer, while preparing for my first ultra marathon. I had somehow forgotten how incredibly better trail running is, with its added challenge and beauty, the need for constant attention and the reward of being one with nature in a very special, physical way. Awesome.

After my ultra, and even more so when I learned I would be running the Copper Canyon in 2012, I realized that my trail abilities needed to seriously improve. So I started adding at least one trail run per week, while adding to my mileage gradually. I chose trails that offer various levels of challenge, but that can all be regrouped under the category “technical”, which means they are of the “single trail” type. Not smooth, gravelled park pathways. I’m talking roots, sharp rocks, vertical drops up to 5-6 feet, rolling pebbles, riverbeds, mud pits. Below are a couple images of trails I run (Click to enlarge).

I started hitting the trails in the same minimal shoes I ran my ultra with, the Merrell Trail Gloves. However, I quickly found they were very limited in capability, notably in terms of protection. I’d get bruises under my feet, experience severe adherence issues on slippery downhills or wet tree roots, and have a really hard time with surfaces made of sharp, protruding rocks. All these issues would get much, much worse as I would add speed to the equation.

I also had a very hard time going downhill on steep declines. This is clearly inexperience on my part, but I also think there’s more to it. After realizing I couldn’t really forefoot strike while going downhill unless I break my cadence with every step, I was advised to aim for a mid-foot landing that would allow me to use gravity to my advantage and that would stop me from hitting the ground so hard (and breaking my forward momentum) compared with my usual “barefoot” form.

So I did, and for a while, I got convinced I’d found the proper solution. I replaced my Trail Gloves with somewhat minimal La Sportiva Cross Lite and changed my downhill running technique. I gained awesome traction, a lot of confidence and I got much faster (in a mid-pack runner way, not the Patrick Sweeney way ;). All was good under the sun!

Except, Last week I did 2 hard trail runs, doubled with road trainings on the same day (the “back-to-back” technique for ultra training). My first one was 22.5km (14 miles) trail + 9km (5.5 miles) road, both at moderate pace. I took a 2-day break, then went for a 9km (5.5 miles) hard trail run (fast+technical), then went home and out for a 16km (10-mile) road run. I had to stop my road run because my knee started hurting in a way that was all too familiar – and, must I add, that I thought was gone for good. It was a slight IT Band pain. Like back in my shod days.

I gave myself 4 full days of break, then last Saturday went to a 23km (14.5-mile) vertical trail race up and down a ski resort. The knee pain came back around the summit (around the 11 mile point), and with a vengeance. When I started the last 3-mile straight downhill to the finish, the pain was really bad, I was limping and pretty much unable to run decently. Under other circumstances, I would’ve quit altogether. Anywho, I finished the race, but now my knee’s bad. And it’s IT Band.

This makes me think it’s a warning of overuse AND a sign of bad running form (probably a bit of both), coming from my intensified trail training / volume and the changes in my technique. I feel a little depressed, and back to square one. So while I ice and whine, there are many questions I want to ask you :

Did any of you experience similar issues?
Do you think this is maybe an “adjustment” my body’s doing and that it just needs time?
Are there barefooters / minimalist trail runners out there running shod part-time? What shoes do you use?
What do you specifically recommend I do, when I get back on the trails, considering the above context?
Am I the only one to think “performance” trail running on technical, single trail courses is impossible barefoot and extremely tricky / risky in minimalist footwear? (Also note : I’m from Canada, with seriously cold falls and winters)
For a barefooter / minimalist runner who gets injured the minute they wear shoes, what is the proper downhill running technique?
I am used to training volumes of 40km (25 miles) to 85km (53 miles) per week, on road. What should be my volume on trails?
Considering my ultimate goal is the Copper Canyon Ultra next March, do you have any other advice for me?

I hope I provided enough details for all this to make some sense. I also wish this can bring an interesting debate and stir ideas around a little. I find that there’s an overwhelming number of barefoot/minimal/whatever shoes that have gone out recently and pretend to be trail runners while they are far from it.

I will come back often and respond to your feedback. Thanks a lot for your time and help!

New To the Collective and Smiling and Enjoying All The Way

2011-10-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

I stumbled onto this little gem of a blog a couple of weeks ago via the BRS and have been stalking (I mean enjoying) it ever since. Enough so, that I had to contact Kate to check if I could help contribute in anyway, and hopefully help spread the word of the great joy of running.

To me running is not work, or something that you have to do because someone told you too, for me it is fun and pure enjoyment. To get out and just go for a run whether it be by myself or with a group is absolutely fantastic and it usually brings a perma-grin to my face that just doesn't want to come off and that is the way I like it.

As this is my first post, I figured I would start with a post I had on my blog, http://www.winnipegbarefootrunners.blogspot.com/ from the last marathon I ran in Bismark, North Dakota last month. I had so much fun and the experience was second to none in my books in a short history of running for me. This will also give you a idea of what I consider a great running experience and why I like the smaller runs so much.

I hope you enjoy,

So this has been an interesting week, since last Sunday when I ran the entire Treherne Half Marathon barefoot on gravel to the dismay of a lot of people, and accepted an invite to join a friend on an excursion to Bismark, ND to run there on Saturday, I have found out alot about the resilience of my feet and body in general.

Lets start with Sunday, after I finished the half, my feet were a little tender, ok that would be an understatement they were down right sore. After running 13.1 miles on gravel (with about a mile reprieve on asphalt) that was very understandable, I figured I would have tender feet for a couple of days. I was wrong within hours my feet were back to normal, my calves were a still a little tight the next day and my big toe was still sore from my toe drag at mile 10 or so, but other than that my feet felt fantastic. Also note my toe healed up nicely in a couple of days. I was even able to do some trail running Monday night out at Kilcona Park with the WH3 barefoot and it felt fantastic, no ill effects of the race the day before.

But just to be on the safe side, I did not run the rest of the week, since I committed to going to Bismark with Mike (from See Mike Run), I wanted to ensure my feet were ready for what I was thinking was going to be a fast half marathon. Nothing like a last minute decision to run a race, within the last two weeks I have signed up for 2 runs at the last minute (Treherne the Wednesday before the race and now Bismark the day before). The crazy thing is that on the trip down to Bismarck, I was contemplating running the full instead of the half because I didn't know what I would do waiting the extra approx 2 hours for Mike and David to finish after I was done. So as we drove the 450 miles (not km's eh Mike) to Bismarck I tossed the idea of throwing caution to the wind and running the full marathon around. So here we are driving for about 7 hours to an American city, trying to figure out what race I was going to complete. We arrived in Bismarck around 6 pm and headed straight to the race pick up / registration area which was located in the mall which was adjacent the Scheel's (a really cool sports equipment store similar to MEC and REI). Still completely undecided which way I was going to go, I started the registration process and got to the run selection and checked Full, I thought why not you only live once, right?

Now lets put this into perspective for all you runners and non-runners out there:

I have not ran more than 16 miles since June 17th in one shot (only adding 10.2 miles onto of my max run, no problem).

I haven't trained for a marathon at all and definitely not at race pace.

I was still battling my breathing issues, carried my puffer through Trehere just in case and would do the same here.

There was a killer hill to tackle not once but twice (1.5 or so miles up at a 5% grade incline) Remember I am from Manitoba the biggest hill we have is a speed bump

There was chip-seal on the course

There would be off and on rain throughout the run and a pretty good head wind

Of course I was running barefoot

That all being said, I was pumped to get out there and run. It was really interesting, as I was registering, one of the ladies behind the table noticed my Vibram shirt and mentioned that her son runs in them, and Mike mentioned that I actually run barefoot and would be running tomorrow that way. That was when all the hoopla started, all of a sudden they were quizzing me so they could write down my bib number, my name and contact info on a separate sheet, for at the time some unknown purpose. It really didn't hit me until the next day what it was, but I will expand on that later. I just answered their questions, smiled and we headed out to go check in at the hotel and then off to Olive Garden for some pasta and beer (a traditional pre-race feast).

With a 7:30 am start time and really not sure where were going and how to get there (thank you Garmin GPS), we wanted to ensure we were up early enough to ensure we had plenty of time. After we got back to the hotel, it was a early bedtime to try to maximize on the sleep that we would probably not get and true to form all three of us didn't get much. Pre-run jitters are common, as you start to run the course in your head and lay out and try to perfect your strategy for the day ahead (note: I have found this really never goes to plan but so be it I still do anyway). It was interesting to hear this never goes away, I found out that David who has run over 80 marathons and a number of ultras (including The Canadian Death Race and numerous other 100 milers) still has this happen as well.

Mike was up at around 5:00, I dragged my butt out of bed at around 5:20 and David fell out of bed at about 5:35, a quick shower, dress and prep for run and we headed downstairs to hit the continental breakfast and a coffee. Met some other runners from Ohio and Kansas who seemed a little over dressed to me wearing touques, tights and heavier running jackets, but they were ready to 'Get 'Er Done!' (That one is for you Mike). Here I was planning to wear my shorts, tri shirt (which is sleeveless) and my arm sleeves for the start, along with my bare feet, must be a Canadian thing, overheating is not a good thing in my mind. Anyway, we piled into the car and headed out to find the run, thanks again GPS for pointing us in the right direction. About halfway there we picked up a runner who was walking along the side of the road looking rather chilled. He in fact was from Houston Texas, and was only wearing his running gear which consisted of a muscle shirt and shorts, he was very grateful for the ride. He was unaware how far it actually was from the hotel to the start line so we were glad to give him the opportunity to warm up before running the full marathon. As we arrived we started to get ready, I took off my long sleeve shirt and my VFF's but left my Injini toe socks on to keep my toes warm, I did get some looks from other runners as I was walking around in socks (just wait till those come off, hee hee!).

It wasn't long before everybody started lining up at their posted target times, we all settled on a 4:00 goal (I say this with tongue in cheek) and positioned ourselves in that area. Off came the socks and the OMG's started with earnest and with them the questions. Now I do not think myself an expert in any stretch of the imagination (with only about a year and a half of experience) on barefoot running but I do like to pass on my knowledge if people are interested. This race seemed to be one where there was a lot of interest, I had numerous conversations and questions with runners, volunteers and spectators alike on the way i run. You would almost think this 'Barefoot Running' thing was catching on or something. After the National Anthem was sang (and she did a fantastic job), we counted down from 10 to the start, it was nice to hear everybody get louder as we approached one..... and we were off!

It's always interesting how runners always position themselves in time areas that are realistically beyond their capabilities, even at the start. I love optimism (and I will admit a 4:00 marathon for me is a stretch but I can keep that pace from the start for a number of miles), but Mike, David and I must of passed numerous runners in the first few minutes that couldn't keep up that pace at all. For some runners this could be very frustrating, if they are looking for a time or a personal best to have to weave in and out of slower runners that they really shouldn't have too. I personally say, even though it is frustrating, you have to keep a positive outlook and be happy they are out enjoying a run, because not that long ago you were probably exactly like them. Life is to short to let little things like that get to you, enjoy the day.

On to the race, let me say it was a blast, they had friendly volunteers and for a smaller race and not ideal weather conditions there was some very enthusiastic spectators along route. I kept pace with Mike and David for probably the first 10 miles or so, which was fantastic for me because they are both stronger runners than I am. The course of the start was on a bike or runners asphalt path so it was a little congested until things started to thin out, but once it did it was smooth sailing. I had numerous conversations along the run (which did slow me down a little bit) with runners along the way, either with runners that had started the conversion to barefoot or wanted to give it a try but were a little hesitant, too the runners that thought I was totally nuts but amazed at the same time. I ran and talked with a younger guy from Bismarck for about 5 minutes about how to start running barefoot and what not to do. I was amazed at how enthusiastic he was, I almost thought he was going to stop and take his shoes off right there, but luckily he didn't he still had a good 24 miles to run. I do not know what it is about running, but you can talk with a complete stranger about anything and there is no problem, no inhibitions at all everything is fair game. One girl I was talking to about barefoot running suddenly changed topic to bodily functions and noises without a bat of an eyelash. This is someone I met not 2 minutes before, where else do you get that. This is another reason I like to run.

As we trucked along the course, we started heading to "the Hill", that would be Mary's Hill towards the The University of Mary (she must of been important to have a University named after her) which was located on top of a plateau to the north side of town. This hill was very interesting, not usually on the course the race director had to change the route due to the flooding of the Missouri River, thus the hill was added (not once but twice - at mile 5 and 18). It is a on paper, one mile long at a 5% steep grade incline up towards the University (officially I would say 1.5 to 1.75 miles up to the top by the University but who's counting). This was going to be a challenge for us flatlanders but of course we were up for it. Along the way to the Hill we passed a couple of young musicians playing away to help inspire the runners. It put a smile on face to see a couple of teenagers playing their hearts out in the cold and drizzle as they were. One had a full drum kit set up and was going at it like a wild man and the other was a younger teen who was strumming Smoke on the Water on his electric guitar. Very impressed that they took the time to do this, they were still going at it as I passed them for the second time on the second lap, pretty darn impressive. There was also a harpist playing at the University grounds as well, I would think her fingers were probably pretty cold strumming the strings for 4 hours, so kudos to her as well. The view at the top of the hill behind the University was really impressive, you could look into the river valley and even with the fog and mist it was still a pretty impressive sight. I of course had to stop and take some pictures, as I decided that I was going to play tourist on this little adventure and I was having so much fun. As I started up and headed towards the first Relay Transition Point, the strangest thing happened, I heard some guy on a bullhorn calling out relay numbers as they came into the transition area (not unusual) but then i heard him announce the following, " Look out folks, here comes our Barefoot Runner, give him a big cheer when he goes through!" I really didn't think much of it, I waved, high fived a bunch or spectators and runners alike, smiled and thought to myself, wow that was nice, and carried on my merry little way towards the down the hill part of the run.

As David and Mike pulled away once we got down the hill and headed back to the end of the first loop, I got once again into a conversation with a couple of runners who were running the half marathon, they were having the time of their lives and you could see it all over their faces. Not really paying attention to my pace I ran with them for a while, fielding more questions and comments, having a few laughs and just enjoying the run. They started to slow a little bit and I said my goodbyes and good lucks and slowly pulled away. My legs and feet felt fantastic, there was no sign of fatigue at all, and I was keeping a good pace somewhere around 9:10 mile, which I was ecstatic about. I then started running with this one older gentleman who was running a leg of the relay, I believe he was a city engineer as he was telling me about the earth dikes that were still along the side of the road and how they had just finished clearing some of the dikes off the course route that week, kudos to the city workers who helped get the course in as good of shape as it was. He also told me he wanted to run the half but he was out early putting all the race signs out so he decided that the relay would still give him the chance to run. Awesome stuff, I like to hear stories like this, it shows dedication, unfortunately I did not get his name but I know he finished strong.

Once again, I was coming around the corner towards relay exchange number two, when once again "I hear, "Here he comes give a big cheer for our barefoot runner, Bob Nicol from Winnipeg". I really didn't think much of this once again, just thinking that's strange why did they announce my name as I ran through with some more hi-fives, etc. As I headed to the half way point and the end of the first lap, I started thinking to myself, 'How did she know my name?' (this also happened at the rest of the Relay Stations as well, very humbling. Shaking that off I proceeded to the half way point, and came up to the only area that was really a little confusing, there was a volunteer standing on a split in the path asking the marathoners as they came through if it was their first or second time through? Me not really comprehending what he was talking about, said, "Damn only the first time, I am not that fast", thinking he was talking about finishing of my second loop. Nope, it seems the start of the second loop consisted of a loop inside a loop so you pass that junction twice in about 15 minutes or so, a little confusion but I guess it could of been worse. As I ran towards the half way point (and the finish for the half marathoners), I once again heard, " Lets hear a big cheer for our barefoot runner, Bob Nicol from Winnipeg who is running the entire marathon barefoot today!" At this point, I started wondering what the heck is going on, this is a little weird, I am no where near the front, I do have a good split with just over a 2 hour 13.1 miles but really. Then as I pass the announcer he gives me a big thumbs up and a quick reference to 'Born To Run' being a great read and wishing me good luck on finishing, as I was the only barefoot runner.

I was a little taken aback by all the attention, but figured ok, lets finish this baby off. I headed out on the final lap, with a little bit of a slower pace but still good in my books. As I finished the loop I came up to the volunteer who directed me around the first time, and joked with him see you in a couple of hours, he smiled and cheered me on. The second loop was very similar to the first time around a lot of chatting with everybody, I got to see a really cool drum solo, and the guitar player was still cranking it out as I ran by. Everybody was throwing comments my way about my feet and I was having a great time. I even started playing duck, duck, goose with another marathoner as I would pass her, then she would pass me, then I would pass her. We did this the entire rest of the race. Going up the second hill I decided to walk a good chunk of it to conserve my energy for the final push to the finish, this was a good thing as there was a killer headwind as well for the entire distance up the hill. I ran down the hill with a fresh abandon, just letting go and with a great tail wind to boot, I have never had that type of energy at this stage of the run (was around 20 to 21 miles). I cruised to the bottom, and stopped for my one potty brake and a gel stop. I think the volunteers thought I was crazy because I was grinning from ear to ear and even started picking up some of the cups around the garbage can that missed (must be a Canadian thing). Off I went to catch up to my duck, duck, goose partner, when I noticed that she was slowing down quite a bit, so as I passed her I told her she had to run in with me and I wouldn't take no for an answer. She smiled, agreed and I took off ahead, so I got a couple of minutes ahead of her and started to walk to let her catch up and pass me, even though I felt fantastic and could of ran it in I was having fun and I wanted to help this runner get in. So once she got about 500 yds ahead of me, I started running again and passed her with a 'Duck', ran ahead stopped and started walking again, in which she passed me again with a smile and a 'Goose'. This happen a couple more times until we were at about mile 25 and change, this was where Valerie from Nebraska and I started running together to the finish. We also picked up Melissa who was part of relay team (who were running in support of a friend with cancer), Melissa started running a couple of years ago to get active and has lost 60 pounds since starting. She was doing awesome but I could see she was starting to falter a little, so on went my 'Motivational Speaker Cap' and I told the both of them, let's go we are almost there, and I want to both of you to kick my barefoot Canadian butt. They both laughed and the closer we got, the more I pushed them to finish. You could see Melissa's teammates cheering her on in the distance and that must of inspired her as she took off from the both of us, it was great to see and put a smile on my face. That was when I looked at Valerie and told her, now its your turn and egged her on through the finish line. She beat me by 3 seconds. Official time was 4 hours 36 minutes and 55 seconds. With a quick hug and thank yous from both of them we parted ways, it was fantastic to see. This is another thing I love about running, to see them as they crossed the finish line was priceless, and why I will continue to run.

Even though I could of shaved some time off my finish, to me it was not about that, it was seeing the looks on everybody's faces as they crossed the finish line realizing if they push themselves that little bit harder, they can do it and have done it. To cap this off I had a great time running this race and even though it was not a personal best, I will not forget the fun that I had and discovering how my body and feet have adapted. Previously, I could of never imagined running a marathon, let alone one without training for it, I be thinking this ultra marathon thing could be possible after all.

In short, I like to just go out and enjoy the run and the company along the way. My biggest objective to make sure I am 'Smiling at the start, the middle and definitely at the end'.

Me at Mile 8 still smiling and having a whole lot of fun

Just before crossing the finish line, man my feet were black, and yes I was still smiling.

Barefooting Bob aka Bob Nicol

Run Smiley Method #33

2011-10-13T07:41:00.001-07:00

Method #33 to make your runs more enjoyable: The Cheers Method

So, I have a friend who owns a local coffee shop. Jaszy's Java is located one block of Historic Route 66 in Wilmington, IL. It's a cheerful little shop with an owner who cares about what her customers want to drink, especially, if it's coffee or a smoothie. I recommend the not-so-berry berry smoothie, it's a Barefoot Rose custom smoothie.

Several of my recent runs went right past Jaszy's by design, either to take a picture or just wave hello.

You know that scene in Cheers when Norm walks into the bar, says hello and everyone yells back "Norm" in greeting?

Ok, maybe Darla, the owner, is the only one saying hello to me but it still perks up the run a bit.

So, if you can find a route that has a place where everybody knows your name, I recommend it.

A Barefoot Rose By Any Other Name

Autumn has such a nice ring to it

2011-10-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

Fall is one of the best times of the year to run. Besides bringing a new pallet of colors into view, the late morning temperatures are more than bearable, they are pleasureable. The sun shines as often as in the summer but isn't as intense. The wardrobe options are plentiful because the weather usually only requires a t-shirt and shorts. Yes, fall allows you to sleep in on a Saturday morning without worrying if you have a heat stroke during your run.

So, that's what I did. I slept in on Saturday, started cooking a bushel of apples on the stove for applesauce and headed otu for a barefooted run. It was glorious. I gave it two big toes up for being just about the best weather ever.

Yesterday, I walked by a woman at the airport who was wearing a Chicago Marathon shirt and I could see the ribbon of her metal around her neck. I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Great Job." She thanked me.

A Barefoot Rose By Any Other Name

Chicago Marathon 2011 Race Report, smiling my ass off!

2011-10-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

So...first marathon, first 26.3 mile distance, in my hometown, basically running through the history of the first 30 years of my life, with a couple of really great friends jumping in to keep me company, my family meeting me during the race to cheer me on...what more could a slob like me ask for. I didn't end up carrying my camera so unfortunately you'll mostly get pictures of me taken by my lovely wife,

starting with this one at 6am as she dropped me off downtown. I really only managed to sleep about 4 hours that night as my OCD had me checking the alarm clock every hour to make sure I had set it right, but I was excited, felt good and rested.

Downtown Chicago is a great place to be at 6am, if you don't have to work. That is to say, if you are running a marathon, or still up at 6am for any number of um, reasons that might have you staying up all night.

Well this time I was up to do a marathon so off I went to wander around Grant Park, getting ready for the race and chatting with other runners. The pre-race was really well organized, keeping the 40 odd thousand people corralled into the appropriate lanes and isles before the starting line.

I got myself into the open corral and worked my way through the crowd toward the 9min/milers. It was exactly like being at a concert and trying to get closer to the stage, with everyone letting you through but a little bit peeved that you're moving toward the front. You're too far away to see the stage, so any time people start pushing forward and yelling you do the same, and then nothing happens and you stand around a bit longer. Then someone yells and everyone starts to push forward, and it turns out that you're going to be standing for a while chatting with your neighbor.

The Chicago marathon is such an awesome trip through the neighborhoods that I know so well. Eventually we were running through Lower Wacker, opening out on Columbus and over the river. My original plan for the run was to get warmed up in shoes and then take them off after a couple of bridges and run barefoot. The bridge on LaSalle was tough on the feet even in my minimalist shoes, but the crowds were absolutely mad and it really pumped us up. I was hustling, maybe a bit faster than I should have but it was such a rush.

I was really in the zone for the next few miles, trying to dial in my stride and get a good rhythm going and while I remember running by Lincoln Park, I didn't really get out of my own head until the North end of the race. I think it was the madness in Boy's Town that pulled me out. That's where the music got really loud and the crowd was insane. I had a great short chat with a fellow from Georgia, running in Luna Sandals, who was super positive and enjoying his run. I kind of woke up at this point and started paying attention to the people around me.

For a solo runner it was amazing to be surrounded by so many people. Even as the crowd thinned a bit and there was more space the streets were absolutely filled with runners and crowds. The music and the parties were going everywhere. I had an old friend jump in with me at mile 13 (yellow shirt). He ran with me for a few miles and was there at the point that the crowd had thinned out a bit so it was perfect.

I had another friend jump in at mile 15 ("Young" shirt) or so just at the point where I started to lose track of things like time and space. He's in this picture with our highschool gym shirt on. The three of us actually ran past our highschool singing our school song. This is me going in for the kiss as my wife takes the pic and my babies just peaking below. It was super nice to see them out there. Three pics down (mine in the middle) is the pic of them with their best buddies and the kids of the lovely friends we stayed with.

I was still good but starting to feel the distance at this point. David was with me until mile 23 or so. I was having trouble keeping track of my salt pills and gu and getting a little incoherent and he helped me tremendously. We ran through the West Loop and later through Pilsen. This is a Mexican neighborhood and everybody was out playing loud music, dancing and hollering.

Later in the run I started hyping the crowd up to get people screaming. Dave and I had a long talk about my post about smiling during runs and encouraging other people. I spent a lot of time talking to people during the run, doing the old pat on the back you're doing a great job. I also really tried to fire up the crowd when they weren't already. They really responded when I made noise, smiled a lot and hollered so I made a habit of it for the rest of the run.

My wife told me later that in the crowd it was easy to get distracted and the runners firing up the crowd brought them back. I was a bringing back machine for the last 7 miles or so because it was amazing how the crowd went from quiet to roaring with a little encouragement. China Town was huge, they had dancing dragons and massive crowd turnout. It was after Chinatown that things got a little desolate. There weren't many people for a while there and my IT band started really tightening up at mile 24. I had to walk for a half mile for the first time in the race and stretch a bit. I took that half mile to recoup and then got back to running at mile 25 and held on until the end.

My original plan had been to take my shoes off around miles 8-10 but by that time I had such a great rhythm going, the last thing I wanted to do was change something or stop. I knew I'd probably have to put them back on at some point and the prospect of stopping for anything just wasn't what I needed at that time. My trail gloves served me perfectly as they always do so I was happy to keep them on.

The audience at the end was a little quiet so I did some hyping and jumping and smiled my ass off. The finish line was crowded with bleachers and I'm sure they were horse 4 hours in but they got going with some help. It really was an amazing time. I loved the neighborhoods and the enthusiasm of Chicago crowds.

My family picked me up downtown, gave me my chocolate milk, and took me home for my guinness. As I write this I am enjoying my sports recovery drink of choice (an outstanding Argentinian Malbec:). I'm a bit sore but not too bad and I'm trying to figure out how many more races I can fit in this year. The longest run I've done until this point was 22 miles and I think I still had something left at the end, so I'm looking for a 50k to finish my first racing season. Got any suggestions?
Care to join my team for the Tough Mudder in IN?

This really is huge for me. I started this season with the goal of running this race and now that it's behind me I'm finding that it just makes me want to set more goals. Thanks for everyones' encouragement, huge ups to Sandy and David for being out there with me, my wife D for all of the support including dragging our family all over the damn place so I can run these races. Lots of love to you Callahans for being the best friends ever and all the rest who have supported me in this. There's more to come!

Thanks for reading!

Thinking of all you guys today...

2011-10-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

I was out on my run this morning (Longest run since I was injured in June BTW). Anyway, this song came onto my iPod and for some reason it made me think of EVERYONE in the 'Collective' and I had the hugest grin on my face. Thank you all for making me smile today.

Noah and the Whale - 5 years time

(Sorry tried to imbed it, but youtube won't let me). :/

Hidden secrets of 'The Run Smiley Collective'

2011-10-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

I did an interview with Caity from RunBarefootGirl a couple of weeks ago. We talked about some serious stuff - sorry about that, but we also talked about 'The Run Smiley Collective" and how this all started. This is the "Run Smiley" story straight from the "horses mouth" as it were. Although I am not a horse, just thought I would clarify that!

She has just edited it and here it is.

I apologise for the slurping and swallowing noises, *cough* note to self - don't drink coffee as you are talking on the phone.

*blush*

Run Barefoot Girl interview

Shod, Barefoot : A Runner’s Manifesto

2011-10-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

I am growing increasingly annoyed with the current so-called "debate" between the proponents of barefoot running and the advocates of high-tech shoes, supports and orthotics.

Just this morning, coming in to work after my running commute, a co-worker who saw me in my bare feet asked “So, is THIS the new fad everyone’s talking about?”. I had to strongly resist the urge to answer something along the lines of “The fuck would YOU know”, being well-aware that the dude was only trying to strike a conversation.

But the fact remains: going barefoot is a high-profile statement.

Aside from the unexplainably strong reactions from some people seeing others in their bare feet (what’s the difference between that and flip-flops, anyway?), I don’t think barefooting is so extreme that it has to become some sort of religion, a strictly exclusive choice that makes everything and everyone else in disagreement an enemy.

Taking off your shoes and discovering the world without soles under your feet is a great feeling and a liberating experience for sure. But it’s not something you do against shod people, who in return certainly don’t have to antagonize you for it either.

I don’t know what’s up with some people on either side of the topic, but I’m not liking the “If you’re not one of us, you’re one of them” mentality that has seemed to spring over the last couple months.

In an attempt to set my record straight and in the greater interest of free running, I feel it’s time for me to take a stand.

I’m not a barefooter. I’m a runner.

I don’t need to belong to any other community than the one of those who run. I can’t care less if you run in shoes, in Vibram FiveFingers or on your naked feet. All I care is that you go out often and enjoy being your own means of locomotion, connecting with the environment and letting go of pretty much everything else in life than the sound of your heartbeat.

As a further means to stay away from labels, I even started calling my own technique “Holistic running”. As of today, I’m the only person in this movement.

We don’t have to argue

People, seriously. Some of us run barefoot and are amazing at it, and some of us run in thick, expensive running shoes and are amazing at it. That’s great! There doesn’t need to be only one way. Why can’t we look at barefooting as just another take on the great activity of running? Let’s celebrate what unites us, not pick on our differences.

I steer clear from dogma.

Whether it’s about worshipping a God and rejecting anyone else who thinks otherwise, wearing a single style of clothing and hanging out with only similarly-dressed people or eating strictly one diet without ever tolerating the sight of other food, I try to distance myself as much as I can from dogma. Barefooting, or shod running for that matter, aren’t exceptions to this rule of mine.

I run barefoot.

Each time I go for a run in my bare feet, I’m taking a course in proper running form given by my own body. I connect strongly with the ground and the environment and I’m reminded that the way to run light, long and free is to hit the ground with the least possible impact while standing straight and relaxed.

I run in shoes.
I enjoy the rock plating under my trail runners when I bomb down a steep hill topped with sharp, unforgiving rocks. I’m thankful to be able to head out when I put on my Gore-Tex runners in the winter and don’t suffer from frostbite. I love to commute to work in minimalist footwear that makes me feel like a fast urban beast. And I have to say I love putting on my “marshmallow shoes” the day after a tough, long run, when my feet are still sore.

Everything is NOT always better without shoes.

I’m not Barefoot Ken Bob. There are things this amazing man does that I can’t do. When I do renovation work, I wear steel toe boots. If this statement holds true for the safety of my feet, so does it in less-dangerous settings like technical trail running or urban commutes over unpredictable sidewalk hazards.

I also happen to live in Montreal, Canada, where winter isn’t only a colder version of fall. It gets extremely frigid up here and I don’t think anyone else than Wim Hof would make it to the corner of the street in their bare feet in February. For us Canadians, barefooting is sadly a seasonal activity that has its limitations.

With that said, I don’t think motion control and orthotics are the answer

How could things that restrain you physically make you stronger, healthier? That’s not how our bodies work. If you over-support a part of your body and suppress its movement or render its actions useless, it will weaken and fail you even more. I have become convinced that the only way to run healthy is to train properly and gradually, by stimulating our bodies and giving them time to recover, while making sure we have a proper, natural, well-adapted form.

It’s about your feet.

The whole barefoot / shod issue is not about one thing being perfect and the other one being evil. It’s about your feet, your body and your health. What the barefoot movement has brought is a better understanding of the workings of the running body; let’s all benefit from it, whether we wear shoes or not. I think at this point, we can all agree that a light, forefoot strike with your feet under your hips will benefit your running form and help you keep injury at bay. The rest isn’t that important.

I am not telling you what to do.

I took off my shoes about two years ago and started experimenting with barefoot running. I benefited from that in numerous ways, starting with the end of my injury cycle. I also became much faster, gained great endurance and overall health. But all this doesn’t mean I pretend to know anything or think everyone should do it. If you want to give it a try, go ahead. If you don’t, that’s fine, too. Really. If you are enjoying some good, injury-free running, by all means, keep doing what you do!

So what, now?

Well, I guess all I’m saying is the whole barefoot / shod issue needs to go. It’s not productive and takes away from what’s really important. It doesn’t matter what we put or don’t put on our feet, all that matters is that we thrive to enjoy free, happy running.

We’re all runners. Let’s focus on the really interesting things, like proper form, various nutrition strategies, interesting outings, running techniques, stretching, awesome stories and so much more!

Flint

NYC Barefoot Party cough I mean Run reports

2011-10-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

I normally would just copy and paste the whole report into Run Smiley. However, the weekend was SO awesome it took 3 blog posts to cover it all. So here are the links to my posts.

Grab some wine - in fact grab several and join me in the recount of the biggest party I have been to in years.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Enjoy!

Luna Sandals Rickshaw at the 2011 New York City Barefoot Run.

2011-10-03T08:08:00.001-07:00

What to do with all of that tapering energy? Music! :)

2011-10-02T16:43:00.001-07:00

Today I packed up my entire family and made them come with me on a run. Everyone was riding bikes. I ran barefoot to a local running store and bought a pair of Merrel Sonic Gloves. I love the Trail glove and figure I'll need something for wetter colder weather. It was good hard work for me as my boy got sick of peddling and went on strike, refusing to move unless I pushed him. So I did some donkey work on a lovely Fall day, enjoyed an awesome time with my family, and breathed that cool fresh air.

My taper is on and I'm not supposed to be running any long runs. After all of the work I've put in to keep myself on track for training it's almost as much work to convince myself not to go out and push another 2 hour run to make sure I'm not losing it. I wonder if I'll feel the same way after next Sun (Oct 9th is the marathon). I'm trying to stretch, do a lot of rolling pin work on tight muscles, drink a lot of water, eat lots of good food and generally keep the mind in killer fit focus. My plan is to run the first 6-8 miles or so pretty relaxed, let everyone pass me, smile a lot, encourage people, and then let loose the maniac, run my legs to bloody stumps and crawl over the finish line screaming! maybe...

I've been working on this guy's body work. I was turned onto it by Jason Robillard who is a great resource himself and a great aggregator of good info.

Since I can't run much I've been putting together my playlist for the marathon next week. Music is extremely important to me. I spend a lot of time looking for new music and can really spend entire days just looking for new exciting music scenes from all over the world. Somehow it doesn't really play much of a role in my running as I like to listen to podcasts but here is a selection of new stuff going into the marathon playlist.

I love these guys. The singer is somehow like Jack Black plus David Bowie and the music is like a beautiful 80s under-aged club dance mix. This is turning into one of those songs I listen to 1000 times until it drives me crazy.

Next up, a band I heard on Sound Opinions, the best music podcast ever. I think this kind of music is called post-something or other, but the fast beat is great for the feet. My favorite part starts at 3:30 (end zebra psychedelia begin Xmas trees and silly puppets).

TV on the Radio hardly needs an introduction but this is a sweet song and I love how they take like a minute and a half to finish their build at the beginning of the song. You get a few minutes in and still feel like the song is about to start. I had to link to it as their label blocks embedding. Thumbs down!

All right one more. I got these guys from an old friend's label. Thanks T! Again, post-something or phsychedelic rock revival, I don't know. Good solid rockers.

Wait last one. My playlist is like 1000 songs (I run so slow I'll need it) but can't forget to throw some old timey electronica.

What do you listen to? Are you a loud fast drive me forward music type or a smooth relaxing smile your fact type? Let me know below.

Good Running!

Join the team for an exercise in pure hilarity!

2011-09-30T19:01:00.001-07:00

I've got a marathon to think about in a week.

I'm sending good vibes to my good friend running the Rock Creek Stump Jump tomorrow morning.

If all goes well with his race and my marathon we'll be doing the Badapple ultra at the end of Oct.

I've got a solid 6 man team for another mudder in November.

Doesn't this look like fun? Care to join?

We want you on team Knuckledraggers! I would love to have a 40 person team. We are not looking to finish in record time, we're not even planning on moving particularly fast. It's just plain fun and we'd love to have you along.

Post here or find me somewhere for the registry info.

Run Smiley Virtual Map

2011-09-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

Did you run smiley last weekend but don't see your town on the map? You don't have to write a report. Just leave a comment below and I'll add your location.

Another Year, Another Miracle At The Montreal Marathon

2011-09-30T07:28:00.001-07:00

For two years now, the Montreal Marathon has been the setting for a little miracle.

It started out in 2009, when a group of runners inspired by the Students Run L.A. program launched a project in Montreal, Canada, to help at-risk youngsters get a new outlook on life by getting off their couches and taking on the challenge of running a full marathon.

They called the project Etudiants Dans La Course, or Students On The Run. They recruited 20 kids from various high schools and about 25 grown-ups from all walks of life to be their mentors. I joined the program about half-way through the year, after discovering its existence through an article in a local paper.

We trained 3 times a week in every conceivable weather, completed races starting from 5K up to half marathons and cultivated the dream. Then, on a crisp September morning, we all gathered on the starting line of the Montreal Marathon and the magic happened : every single kid gave their all and finished the course. And all of them changed forever.

It's an amazing thing to witness.

This year, I started the program from day 1. We had over 30 students at the beginning, many of them angry, confused and out of shape. The first training consisted of 10 minutes of a slow jog, and not everyone was able to run it continuously. There was a lot of huffing and puffing and not so much conversation. Many dubious looks.

Then, weeks passed. Some improvement occurred. We learned each other's names, played some fun games and started getting to know everyone a little bit better. Without even noticing, we went from a couple minutes to a couple kilometers of running, and some of the scoffing and rolling eyes was replaced with smiles and cheers.

It wasn't always easy. You need some serious motivation and dedication to follow through the program. As the year unfolded, we went from 32 kids to about 20. It's all right, the marathon isn't for everyone. The ones who remained formed an ever closer pack, bonding with their mentors and among themselves.

On September 25th, 20 students toed the line, jittery, excited. We'd shared the bus ride with superathlete Pierre Lavoie and were welcome to the course by none other than Canadian running legend Bruny Surin. We wore face paint and hair tattoos, pocketed lucky charms and shared mp3 playlists. We were ready.

The run was long and some stretches were hard, but about 6 hours later, we screamed our last student in; every single kid had made it across the finish line, becoming not only a marathon runner, but a positive, healthy young person ready for the challenges of life ahead of them. And that, my friends, is nothing short of a miracle.

Achaymaa, Jessica, Sarah, Karlenne, Melissandre, Soukaina, Hadi, Carl-Alexandre, Carlos, Nicolas, Keven, Ndembi, Mouamadou, Francois, Francis, Massimo, Akim, Pascal, Zaher, Juan Pablo, you are heroes to me. You hold a place in my heart forever.

Godspeed, my young friends.

Flint

A picture album of the event can be viewed here

2nd Annual NYC BFR - The Movie

2011-09-30T06:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Smileys! I put together a video of the goings-on at the NYC BFR. Click the image below or here to get a glimpse. Some of you might even see yourselves. Enjoy!

My take on the NYBFR

2011-09-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

I just put up my own style of "run report," if you will, on the New York City Barefoot Run, and I'd like to share it here:
http://barefootmonologues.wordpress.com/

I had a fantastic time meeting everyone, and I look forward to many more gatherings.

A NYC Barefoot Report

2011-09-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Since there is some talk of an "Official" Run Smiley Collective Group Report, and because we don't need 8 different individual reports of the weekend here, I'm just going to post a link to my write up of the weekend here.

In the mean time, I am loving all the reports from the Virtual Runs that our pouring in -- makes me feel part of something bigger, and I'm quite blown away!