Welcome to RunManicRun!

Welcome to RunManicRun, a personal running blog about a couch potato who decided to run … and run barefoot no less!

For my journey from couch to barefoot 5K race, check out the posts in the barefoot c25k category, starting with this post waaaay back in June 2011.

For my races, including my first 5K after completing my own home-brewed C25K program (ish), see the races category.

For what I’ve been up to since C25K, there’s the general barefoot runs, and my latest project, the hundred up challenge.

Of course, the latest posts are just below this one, if you just want to see what I did last

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 16, Run 1

Well, it’s been over a week since the full moon run that gave me the blood blister, so I figured that it’d healed up enough for my usual Sunday morning run. The weather was pretty good, but since the clock change a few weeks ago, the sun was coming up and almost breaking through the early morning clouds as I was getting ready. I’m not used to running in full daylight!

I was feeling good as I set out, both garmin and runtastic working as expected (and by that I mean actually working), and I’d almost completed the first side of the loop before I realised that I hadn’t done any warmup. Ah well, I’d live As I was making my way around, I decided that I was feeling good enough to try out doing a bit of fartlek speed work. Fartlek, at least in my understanding, is basically running at higher-than-usual pace for a long as possible, then dropping down to a recovery speed (be that normal pace or slower), then going back up to high speed again when feeling ready again, repeating onwards. It’s kinda like intervals, but with no set time or distance for each leg.

I ended up doing one high speed leg on the final stretch of the first lap, and managed to convince myself that I should do a second lap with more fast bits, so round I went again, doing high speed on both the second and final legs again. It was actually pretty fun to get up to a decent pace and push myself a bit, since I’d been running around that 10m/m pace for ages without much variation (barring the hills etc in the UK). As you can see from my stats grab from runtastic below, I averaged a decent 9:40m/m overall, but what that doesn’t tell you is that for the brief fast bits I was hitting 6:40m/m pace! Interestingly enough, during my “slow” recovery phases, I was never slower than 11m/m, which is only a tiny bit slower than my usual pace, which is promising…

I was debating doing a third lap, as I was having fun with the fartleks, but two things brought it to a halt – firstly, a dog walker parked just a short way in front of where I was running, and just let her dog out loose. I’ve not got a problem with dogs in general, but the situation was just too unpredictable for my liking, since I didn’t know if the dog would chase or ignore me, so played it safe and dropped down to a walk. Luckily, the dog didn’t come too close in the end, but by that point I was almost at the car and ready to stop. The other thing I mentioned is that my blood blister was starting to loosen up again, which wouldn’t have been pretty, so it was a good time to call it a day.

I doubt I’m going to have a chance to run again in the next few days, so my foot should be fully healed up (I hope) by next weekend, which will probably be my next run, so I’m definitely planning on trying the fartlek thing again – it was just too much fun hurtling along at that pace, especially since it made my overall average pretty good.

Oh, and I’m kinda committed to doing a corporate run in the near future (later this month), so I need to be in shape enough to run a 5K at a reasonable lick (assuming that I can plough through the hordes of slow people blocking the way), so I definitely need to keep the practice up… but I’m not taking that one too seriously

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 15, Run 2 – Full Moon Run

It’s only been a few days since I came back from the UK, but it’s the full moon again, which means time for the monthly BRS run. However, this session was slightly different in that while there was a run to begin with, most of the evening would be running-related games and activities, since it was finally a weekend night (plus almost Easter). Plus prizes!

Therefore, in order to not overdo things, during the initial run I only did one lap of the small loop (about 0.85 miles), which as the stats show I breezed at 10m/m pace. Once everyone else had done their lap or twos, it was time for the first activity – another lap, but with random challenges/tasks to perform on each side of the square loop… and I must admit that I managed to avoid doing a couple of them, with (kinda) good reason

However, by the end of that (2nd) loop, my right foot was feeling a little odd, so I quickly examined it while waiting for the next activity – not good. Turns out I’d managed to give myself a large (almost 1″ diameter) blood blister about halfway down my outside edge! I’m not sure what caused it – perhaps my feet hadn’t had a chance to get used to the heat again? Or maybe I’d picked up a bad habit from running in the cold in my sandals over the past weeks? Well, for whatever reason, it put an end to my running for the night, and I had to walk the next activity. I debated putting the sandals on, since I had them in the car with me, but couldn’t face the hassle of getting the straps tightened, so just took it carefully over the concrete paths.

As it turns out, the final activity was one that I was explicitly barred from entering, since it was purely for anyone who wanted to try barefoot running but hadn’t really done it before (which definitely rules me out!), so I was able to sit that one out and let my foot recover from the walking. The plus side of this was that I was able to be an impromptu judge of everyone’s barefoot form, to make sure no-one was messing it up with heel striking or the like, so it worked out okay in the end.

Overall, it was a fun evening, and it’s just a shame that I managed to injure myself. Guess I’ll have to rest up this week until that blister has recovered enough to run on again…

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 15, Run 1

Back in my old home town once again, I had just enough time to get one more run in before flying home, so off I set once more. The garmin was charged still, so I didn’t have to worry about that … until I started the track, at which point it resumed the track of the hill run a few days previously. For some reason (perhaps because I hadn’t brought the ant+ dongle, so couldn’t sync it?), it thought that the previous run was still active, so I had to spend a minute stopping that, resetting, and getting a new track going. However, the side effect of this (which I didn’t realise until I started this write-up) is that the stupid thing didn’t get a lock until I was halfway around, doh! Back to runtastic for my accurate stats once again…

I ended up on the same route as the previous time here, as the long stretch the sun behind me was definitely a good thing. It was a bit quieter though, as the school were closed for the Easter break, meaning I didn’t encounter anyone else while I was out. No strange looks from the passing cars either, that I could tell

As the stats show, it was quite a bit slower than the previous run on the same route, even though the weather was arguably better this time around (a touch warmer). The reason for that is simple – I had great difficulty getting the damn sandal straps to stay on my feet! I was adjusting them so often that I actually gave up and started heading back, but ended up going down a dead end instead of the shortcut back that I (vaguely) remembered it to be. Realising that at this point I was halfway round, I figured I may as well do the full route (and get the benefit of the sunny stretch), so gave the sandals a really good tightening and kept on going.

The side effect of this was that now the straps were a bit too tight, and it was getting uncomfortable to run. Given that it wasn’t too far, I had to push on through and keep running, and by the time I started the long stretch homewards they’d loosened just enough to make them fit a bit better. That being said, they were still not great, and by the time I could see the house, I decided to take them off completely and do a completely barefoot last few hundred yards – immediate relief! The path surface was a lot rougher than I’m used to, by my feet were either warmed up fully and didn’t complain too much, or were cold enough to numb the pain a touch. Either way, that final stretch was great, and I almost wished I’d done the entire way barefoot. Maybe next time I’m over, which will hopefully be slightly warmer conditions That being said, this is the UK I’m talking about, so the ‘warmer’ part is by no means guaranteed…

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 14, Run 2

Due to visiting various family members, I was in a different part of the UK for a few days, so I took the opportunity to run somewhere completely alien to me… HILLS! The weather was still the same high 30Fs as earlier in the week, so I was wearing the same gear as before, including the sandals. I’d managed to coax the garmin back to life by having it charging for several days, so I was able to get both trackers giving me stats during this “historic” event.

After a quick 100 up minors warmup (which I think I’m going to make a permanent addition to my routine), I headed out the door. The first stretch was up a small (but steep-ish) incline, before descending down twice as far onto a level area on the side of the hill, so I used this as a chance to assess how the sandals (and my strapping) coped with the angles. The uphill was simple, and I only needed one tightening before getting to the top, then there was the downhill. I managed to control my speed going down fairly well – I didn’t want to go full tilt yet as I was still testing the sandals – but there were no problems there.

Full of confidence, I set off along the level stretch. There was one minor thing I hadn’t planned for – given that this was a small hillside village, the roads were very narrow, with no paths at all, so I had to run in the road itself. Not a problem back home, as there’s plenty of room, but here was a different matter – more than once I had to stop to get out of the way of a car coming down the road, and there’s no always that much room to do that either. Thankfully I didn’t need to dive into the hedges or anything like that!

Soon I’d reached the heart of the village and had three choices – turn back and run the level bit back to the house (and repeat a few times), run to the other end of the village (still on the level) and back, or leave the village by the one road in and out. Given that I was here to experience the place rather than just run past houses like always, I elected for the road out. Oh, did I mention that this road was completely up hill out of the village? And that the top of the hill was over half a mile away? Oh, and that the first part was a 1:5 slope!?

That last fact didn’t really hit me until I’d started up it. I was following all the advice I’d read about hill running (bend knees a lot more, mostly), but after about 20 yards of that 1 in 5 slope, I realised that I was just shuffling along, and I’d be better off walking. No shame in walking if it’s the same speed (and arguably more efficient than running at that angle), so I trudged up the hill for a fair way. Once the road started to ease off back to a gentler slope, I took a breather to enjoy the view and get my bearings, then re-engaged my running brain and tried to keep going up.

After stopping to allow a few more cars past (steep hill + high hedges + single track road = very cautious me), I finally reached a crossroads, and took a side road out towards the hilltop (which also would be much quieter traffic-wise). Just after the junction was a public footpath that crossed the road, one side out over a field, and the other heading up a farm track into the hill. Since the road looked like it wasn’t going any higher, I figured I’d take the farm track, which also was going out above the village, so the view should be good.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but this track was my first bit of trail running, and I’m definitely glad I had those sandals on for it. There were lots of loose rocks & stones, muddy bits where tractor tyres had churned it up a bit, and it was very uneven. Good fun to run on though! The track went upwards a little way, then down a dip and back up again. I kept on going, but soon it became apparent that the track was going back downhill, and I had no clue where it’d end up. A quick check of my garmin showed I’d been out for over 15 minutes already, so it’d take me at least that long to get back, and I didn’t want to go back downhill onto to have to come all the way back up again, so I decided that this was as good a point as any to turn back.

Going back up the track was fairly simple, now that I knew what to expect from the mixed surfaces, and soon I was back at the junction, looking down the hill back to the village. This was going to be … interesting I headed downhill cautiously at first, but this part wasn’t too steep, so soon enough I was really running. The garmin shows that I was averaging (not peaking, *averaging*) 8m/m on that downhill, and I know that if I were to run this again, I’d be able to do it *much* faster. In fact, for part of the way down I was trying to keep my upper body upright, and it felt like I was almost falling over backwards! Adding any forward tilt resulted in immediate increases in speed, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure my feet were up to it.

I mention my feet, because there’s one thing that I hadn’t accounted for – the sandals. I could quite happily run, I was keeping my knees nicely bent during the descent, and I was trying not to land on my feet too heavily (especially not on my heels too much), but the sandals were getting to be a problem. Previous runs in the sandals (both in the UK and the longer runs back home) had often resulted in blisters and raw patches around where the front strap went between and under my toes, and during the downhills all my weight was pushing my feet into that patch of strap. It was a little painful after a while, so I had to reduce my pace on the later steeper stretches.

Only two things were between myself and the house – the long mostly level road, and the 20% incline before it. Given that my feet were complaining about the sandals, and that there were a few cars to avoid, I took the sensible choice and just walked down the 1:5. Once back on the level, I made one final push and ran the rest of the way back to the house, for a total 1.9 miles covered.

Yes, I did a very short distance in quite a long time (the 14:30m/m from runtastic breaks down into 17:20m/m for the uphill and 10:30m/m for the downhill according to garmin), but the elevation is key here – nearly 400ft overall according to runtastic, but over 500ft according to garmin. Either way, it was a complete change from my usual very flat runs, and I’m very glad I did it. Now I just need to find some way of dealing with the sandal strapping issue and I’ll be set for all future hill runs… if I can ever find any more hills

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 14, Run 1

After allowing a few days to defrost, I decided to attempt another run in the cold conditions. Now that I knew that my legs would be the coldest part of my body, I made sure I was fully warmed up before heading out – a complete set of 100 up minor exercises done at reasonable speed definitely worked nicely. It was not all good news, as even though I’d charged it completely just a few days prior, the garmin was completely dead, but that’s where my redundancy in GPS devices comes in handy.

Like the previous run, it was cold out. 2C (35F) to be exact! However, the sun was starting to come out, and there wasn’t a breeze (which is a disadvantage when its hot, but a definitely advantage when cold like this), so I wasn’t feeling totally frozen this time. I picked a slightly different route this time, since I wanted to see a different part of the local area, but there was also a useful side effect – the final leg back to the house was long, straight, and with the sun almost directly behind me, meaning that the backs of my legs got a bit of sunlight on them to heat them up – perfect!

Unlike the previous run which was on a Sunday, this was middle of the week, and there were lots of cars around, and even people walking to work/school/etc. This meant that unlike before, I had to go past quite a few people as I ran, and I definitely noticed that they were all looking at my feet! I suspect that since the sandals are black rubber, they were difficult to spot against the dark asphalt, so it looked at first glance that I was totally barefoot (which would have been a touch crazy given the almost freezing conditions). However, the people I was walking past weren’t the best reaction. No, that was reserved for a car that went past me, suddenly slowed down, and the driver craned her neck out looking back at me, obviously in disbelief of by my footwear choice! Perhaps I became a talking point for her day?

Now that I was getting used to the cold a bit more, my pace was back to normal, at just under 10m/m the entire way (the screengrab below says 10:08 which is because I had to stop to adjust the damn sandal straps again, plus I didn’t stop the tracking quickly due to cold hands). OK, it was again only 1.3 miles, but I’m considering any run in these conditions to be a good thing, since I’m on vacation after all

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 13, Run 1

I’m on vacation at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I can get away with not running!

It was a tad chilly out this morning – 6C (about 42F) in fact! Much colder than even my previous cold run a month or so ago (which was 51F before considerable windchill). However, this time I’d planned ahead, and was wearing a borrowed long-sleeved top to go over my usual lightweight tee, plus I’d got the bedrock sandals on again.

Surprisingly enough, both the garmin (fully charged this time) and the iphone got a quick gps lock, so I was able to set off fairly quickly once outside – I’d also done a quick 100-up minor set as a warmup while indoors as well, which helped too.

As soon as I stepped outside, I knew I’d made the right choice to wear the sandals, as my feet would not have coped with the cold (and pretty broken up) asphalt paths. However, the downside was that for at least the first quarter of a mile, I was running a few hundred yards, stopping, readjusting the strapping, running a bit more, stop & readjust again, etc etc, until I finally got the straps to hold onto my ankles tightly enough.

The run itself was fairly straight forward – there were no cars around, and only the occasional dog walker to avoid, so I pretty much had the route to myself. Since I used to live around these parts, I spent as much time looking around me at the familiar (and often changed) sights as I did watching where I was running, but that’s a luxury the sandals afforded me

I had to cut the run a little shorter than I’d initially planned, for one simple reason – my legs, especially the backs of my thighs, were freezing cold! I’m really not used to the cold conditions, and the slight breeze on the return leg didn’t help matters – I really need to consider investing in some running trousers or at least longer shorts. OK, so I’m not going to be running in the UK very often, but the ragnar race is in January, and it’ll be pretty nippy during the overnight stretch, so it’ll be a worthwhile investment.

As you can see from the stats below, I actually managed to go at my usual pace for the majority of the time, and considering I covered over a mile in conditions I’m not aclimatised to, I’m definitely happy with that. The plan is to get out and run at least once every 2-3 days during my stay, so the next run should get a little easier now that I know what to expect.

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 12, Run 1

Just a simple run around the large loop this time, since I had the little one in the stroller, and he was getting antsy by that point. The weather was cooperating at least – about 77f, with a slight breeze – and the early morning sun occasionally breaking through the clouds. I actually ran with sunglasses & hat, for at least the into-the-sun stretches. Of course, I’d forgotten to charge the farming yet again, so only had the runtastic app for tracking.

The amount of broken glass seems to be increasing around the top end of the loop, but that was minor compared to a new obstacle – a fallen tree! From the amount of rubber on the road at the intersection nearby, its fairly obvious that someone had been doing donuts with their car, lost control, and smashed into the base of the tree – the tyre tracks and bits of broken glass & plastic in the grass all tie into that too. Crazy!

Stats wise, this was a short run at only 1.75m, but even with the stroller I managed to keep about a 10:20m/m pace. It probably helps that I’d remembered to lock the front wheel this time, so I spent a little less time steering. That being said, I was still running on the paths, which aren’t that wide (compared to running on the roads), and the stroller never tracks completely straight (even after I retuned the alignment), so I couldn’t just give the stroller a big shove, run for a bit while it coasted, then grab & relish – I had to keep at least one had on it at all times, which isn’t great for my form. Such is life!

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 10, Run 1 – Full Moon Run

Yes, it’s been a month since the last one, so it’s time for the BRS full moon run once again. The weather had been threatening with rain on and off all day long, so while getting my gear together, I made sure I was including a hat (rain + glasses + dark = no fun), and of course a plastic bag to keep my phone dry. As it turns out, the rain missed us, which was a relief in many ways as the wind was pretty strong, and combined with rain would have been quite chilling.

After hanging around for a while waiting for people to turn up, and the usual quick barefoot running clinic, we all set off. My plan for the run was to keep it steady, and do 4 complete laps (which works out at 3.4 miles). As it happens, I ended up being one of the fastest there, so was well ahead of everyone (bar one) after just the first lap. The clouds were heavy, and there was very little moonlight initially, so I was glad that my little torch was working for the unlit rougher asphalt stretches.

My luck with electronics wasn’t to last though, as my garmin decided to randomly die while I was checking my pace. I waited a few mins before checking again, and it was claiming the battery was at 0%. This was surprising, since it’d been on charge nearly all week, and I was sure it was full when I unplugged it just before leaving the house. Ah well, I’d have to rely on the stats from my runstatic app once more. Redundancy has it’s uses, that’s for sure!

Before I’d even finished my second lap, I was already trying to persuade myself that only 3 laps would be sufficient, or perhaps just 2, but my willpower kicked in and I carried on. As I started the third lap, the moon finally broke through the clouds, so it became noticably lighter in the darker areas. This allowed me to see that I was actually catching up with a small group, and by the middle of the unlit stretch I managed to pass (and lap!) them… but not without giving them a shock from calling out “on your right!” from behind them, going by the surprised exclaimations and jumping Of course, in my determination to get past quickly, I kicked up the pace a little too much (peaking around 9m/m), which brought on a light stitch, so I had to slow it right back down for the remainder of the lap.

As I was finishing the third lap, there were already one or two people who had stopped, but again I resisted the temptation and carried on for one more. I was determined to at least do a 5k/3.1m distance, as I’ll never get up to ragnar distances if I keep only doing short runs. The final lap was hard work, and the wind on the outward leg, while nice and cooling, was a real slowdown. To make matters worse, my little torch decided it was about to give out, so I was running the unlit stretch with a light that was flickering on and off. I managed to nurse it to the end of the stretch, thankfully! I made one more lapping overtake on the corner of the 3rd and 4th sides, so it was just a clear run back to the finish.

While heading back, I managed to unlock my phone and check my progress. 3.28 miles? Good enough for me, so I stopped the tracking and slowed to a recovery pace (fast walk/slow jog). Looking at the stats, I held pretty much a constant 10:20m/m pace the entire way round, allowing for the occasional fast and slow stretches (due to wind and/or overtaking), so I’m pretty pleased – especially given that I did the 5k distance (adjusting for the slow start) in almost exactly 32 minutes – my fastest training 5k. What’s more interesting is that I could probably have soldiered on for another lap, if I was motivated enough to push a bit harder, but since I wasn’t running with anyone else at that pace, I felt that I’d done enough this time.

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 9, Run 1

Given my current routine, I usually am able to run only every other week, so when the opportunity arose to run this weekend, I jumped at it. Originally, I’d planned on doing a group run with some of the other BRS people, but that fell through due to injuries. However, I wasn’t going to let that stop me, so I went down to the (now) usual loop instead.

Unlike the previous run, I was back to barefoot – the potential blister on my left foot was a blister in the end, but the injury to my right foot ended up being worse – where the toe strap went was rubbed so raw it was bleeding! Both feet are fully healed now, but I’m going to have to reconsider the use of those sandals, especially for longer distances. The other change from previous runs is that this time I was pushing the little one in the stroller. Oh, and yet again I’d forgotten to charge the garmin, so was down to just the runtastic app again. Doh. One of these days I’ll actually get into a routine for charging it…

As we set off, the weather was pretty much ideal – 72F at 90%, with a steady breeze. I wasn’t sure how I’d cope, so started off just doing the shorter loop, but by the time I reached the first corner I realised that I’d forgotten one important thing – to lock the front wheel of the stroller! I debated stopping to fix it, but I didn’t want to kill my momentum, so I decided to soldier on with the front wheel being loose. It wasn’t to bad actually, since it makes turning it a lot easier, and as long as I paid attention it didn’t wander too far off track. The downside was that I had to keep a constant hand (or two) on it at all times, which didn’t exactly help my form, plus it had to be a full grip, not just a fingertip to keep it rolling.

After a successful first short loop, I had two choices – do more small loops and hope that I wouldn’t get bored and/or tempted to stop early, or go for the larger loop. Knowing myself well, I opted for the latter, since I wanted to avoid passing by the car. The larger loop was if anything easier to run than the shorter, since it was all concrete without any asphalt stretches. That being said, it does have it disadvantages, namely the seed pod debris that I cruised over in the sandals last time – I had to dance through to avoid them as much as possible – and a few places with broken glass. These I managed to see before the stroller blocked my view, so I could jump out of the way of the bad patches, but I’ve made a note to be more cautious there in future.

The wind was getting up as I was heading towards the end of the loop (and the stroller acts like a big brake), so I decided against adding another little loop to the end, plus the stroller’s passenger was getting a tad antsy, so I knew that it was time to stop. Overall, I did 2.3 miles in just over 25 minutes, which is pretty much bang on 11m/m pace the entire way (according to runtastic, see the screencap below). Considering I was pushing & steering the stroller and fighting the wind, I’m surprised I managed that pace, but I’m not complaining – it should make the next runs without the stroller seem even easier!

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Manic

Barefoot Running 2012 – Week 8, Run 1

Today, for the first time since… hmmm… actually, I’m going to be exact, lemme check my archives for a sec… ah, there we are, the first time since the end of November (three months ago, yikes!), I actually ran a complete 5K distance! So why the sudden return to form? Well, the secret there is that some of the BRS people I’ve been running with this year are organising a team for the Ragnar Relay here in 2013. If that means nothing to you, the one sentence summary is that a team of 12 runners has to complete a relay of 200 miles in 36 hours, each doing three of the 18 legs. The distances for each leg range from 3m to 11m (total of 9-22 miles each), so if I’m serious about taking part, I need to start working on my distance endurance.

With this in mind, the plan today was to go down to the loop I’ve been running all this year so far, and just go as far as I could. The weather was a heck of a lot better than 2 weeks ago – 75F at 86%, with an occasional good breeze – which may sound horrible to some, it’s what I’m used to. Once at the usual start point, I got both the runtastic app and the garmin locked and tracking, and headed off. Unusually for me, I was going to check my pace throughout the run, as the maximum (i.e. slowest) pace the ragnar team needs is 11min/miles. Obviously, I’ve ran far quicker than that before, but speed isn’t the issue, endurance is now.

Since I was wanting to do as far as possible, I deliberately set off on a bigger (thus longer) loop than the previous runs, and it took most of the first side of the block for me to find the right pace. I was all over the place, going from 12m/m to 9m/m to back up to 12 again, but eventually I settled around a 10:30m/m pace. The run was pretty uneventful, and I did an easy long 1.7m loop as my first “lap”. That being said, I did have to force myself to start the next lap as I was passing my parked car, as the temptation to just stop right there was very alluring, but I held strong and kept going.

My motivation once more dipped as I reached the first turn again, as my stomach starting to feel a bit queasy, but I persuaded myself to keep going somehow, and the feeling subsided a bit. By the time I was rounding the second corner, I knew I couldn’t do another complete lap, so I compromised and took the middle road back to the start. I was watching my stats on the garmin, and I was in sight of the car again when the 3.1m marker ticked up, so I hit the lap button and slowed to a recovery walk back to the car. Mission accomplished!

My overall pace was pretty much 10:45m/m, but I suspect I could have held the 10:30 the entire way if I’d spent some time warming up before starting the timers & laps. And my final time? Almost dead on 33mins for the 3.1, which considering the lack of practice and other people around to motivate me, ain’t too shabby.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention – I ran the entire way in the bedrock sandals, rather than true barefoot. Why? Two reasons – firstly, I was running a route I hadn’t done before, and I didn’t know how much debris or broken surfaces there’d be. In fact, there were two bad patches, one with hard seed cases scattered all over the place from a couple of trees (which the sandals told me were there, but didn’t hurt my feet that much). The second reason is that I’m trying to extend my distance, and given that my feet have had very little asphalt practice recently, I didn’t want to rip them up. I’m also contemplating wearing them for Ragnar, so I need to get practice in using them.

That bit about not wanting to rip my feet up? Yeah, the sandals protected me from that, but at a price. The areas where the buckling systems go on the top and sides of my feet have been rubbed a little raw, but the worst is that the toe strap on my left foot has given me what feels like the start of a blister on the underside of my foot I think I’m going to look into changing the lacing on these a bit, to see if I can minimise both the rubbing and the blister areas, and I think it’d be wise to not wear them again until the proto-blistered area is completely healed. Back to real barefooting for me then

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Manic