Kyle's Millarville Half Marathon Race Report

Why hello everyone. Yes, this post is late by about a week. Robbie did a great write up of the half marathon from her perspective and I wanted to make sure that I did one also. It just apparently takes me a lot longer before I get in the writing mood to do one. I should really get better about that. Ah well.

Anyways so like Robbie said, we started off the day by getting up at Zero Dark Idiotic as our friend Kelly would say, or in actual time 4 in the morning. We got up, got all our stuff on, ate some food and then headed down to the Millarville Race Track to catch a shuttle bus. I was a little worried before we got down there that there would be tons of people arriving early and that there wouldn't be enough room on the shuttle buses to take us over. When we got to the race track just before the first bus was scheduled to leave there was almost no one there. I guess we had nothing to worry about.

Robbie and I on the bus.

We got on the bus and waited to head out. Our friend Barefoot Neil joined us on the bus and we headed to Black Diamond to start the race. There we did the usual pre-race activities. Potty time!!! Laff. Neil and I got the usual stares and scoffing from people. Robbie was in the washroom line just behind one lady who was scoffing so she made a point to call me hot stuff and to mention us being barefoot. Love it. Funny how being barefoot, or almost barefoot gives you thicker skin. Really I don't care because I'm passing most of the people who are scoffing at me. ;)

Met up with our other minimalist friend Maria and chatted with her about her lovely Hattori's. As Robbie mentioned she was in her Stems and I was in Robbie's pair of Invisible Shoes with the beautiful bright pink laces.

The technical T from the race, which of course we did not wear to the race. Standards, people!!!

I had originally intended on running the race in my Stems also, but a week or two before the race I was feeling like I would prefer something a little more roomy and airy. Granted the Stems are super wide and lovely, but I think I really wanted to be barefoot. However I knew that my feet weren't quite ready for a half marathon distance and so I wanted to save them a bit. So I went with a pair of huaraches instead. I know they say not to do anything new for a race, so I put like 5 miles on the huaraches, then relaced them for my feet, put another 7 miles in them and then ran the race. That's totally fine, right? Laff

Once again this picture from the lovely Maria showing off our great footwear.

So back to the start of the race. We lined up at the front of the back third with Barefoot Neil and off we went. There were 3 little sections of gravel on this run. The first one was right at the beginning for a very short distance. However the rocks were big and on a very hard surface. Of course I managed to catch one rock on the arch of my foot. Ouch. Thankfully that was the only real problem with rocks that I had that day. I ran with Robbie for the first little bit. While I was still running with her one of my shoes wasn't fitting nicely. I felt like my foot had moved over to the edge of the shoe and the laces weren't tight enough. Crud. Maybe I should have spent a little more time making sure they were fitting properly. However, since I'm stubborn I decided I would wait it out and see if the problem would fix itself. I said goodbye to my lovely wife and started to ramp up the speed. I was aiming to average about an 8 minute mile the whole time and so I started going in between 8 and 8:30 minute miles for the first little bit. The first 2.75 miles are all uphill so I kept that pace the whole time. Thankfully my shoes did work themselves out and I was a happy flying man.

I should probably pace myself better. I have heard that you should go slower at first and then aim for negative splits. Apparently that's not my style. I try to aim for one pace and then keep roughly around that pace the whole time. So far it has worked okay, but maybe I should try it the other way. Either way I have to say I love the first little bit of a race when you start closer to the back and then get to pass lots of people. Helps the ego. :)

From there my pace sped up a bit so that it was more in the 7:30 to 8:00 minute mile. As I passed one group of guys I heard them all start to mention 'that book', and that Caballo guy. Cool. Once I started running I don't think I heard a single negative thing about my Huaraches. I think the people who were the most amazed by them were the Volunteers. Always good to wave and thank them and to interact with them as I run by. I found it funny when one person called them Flip Flops. Other than that struck up a couple conversation with people as I passed or they passed me. Other than Robbie, Neil and Maria I saw a couple of people in Vibrams, a guy in New Balance Mininus and a girl in New Balance Minimus shoes as well.

I so wish my phone was set to video when I tried to take this. This dude when he passed me had his arms in the air conducting an orchestra. He almost did a jig or some fancy step to his run. It was hilarious.

The race was supposed to be a Net downhill course and I guess technically it was. I will contend that really, they lied. Net downhill but still lots of big hills. That and a long long stretch between Black Diamond and the Millarville Race Track made it a big mental game. I sucked it up, kept my pace and chugged on. I played leap frog with a couple of runners. They would pass me, keep going for a while and then peter out a bit and I would pass them and leave them behind. I had a bit of a mental game near the end. I had about 2 miles left to run. I knew from checking out my garmin that I was running around 8 minute mile average. I had two miles to go and was feeling tired. It would be nice to PR, but I wasn't really pushing for it. However with the distance remaining and the current time I knew that if I just pushed out two more 8 minute miles I might be able to just manage a new Personal Record. So even though I wanted to slow down, I made myself continue going the current pace. Chug, chug chug, Ugh. Then the end was in sight. I entered into the Millarville Race Track grounds and then came across the gravel at the end. Ugh. Really sucks when you want to give it a final push, but then you hit gravel. Got past the worst of the gravel and put on the speed. The girl just behind me did the same. I tried my best to get in before her but she had just a little more push than me and so she finished like .2 seconds before me (I took comfort later that my chip time was a good 15 seconds faster....Laff). Race done! I finished in a time of 1:45:20. Woot!!! New Personal Record! Beat the last one by about a minute and a half. And I would say that this was the harder course. Very pleased. Glad to get another half marathon done and I had a really good time.

The hand fired clay finisher medals. Note the iPhone for scale. Big medals and very heavy.

Taking a look at the final times I ended up finishing 40th overall out of 263 people. Not bad. 33 out of 99 guys and in my division (Males between 30-39) I came in 12th out of 28. Nice. I never really considered myself a speedy person and I certainly don't think I'll finish first ever (unless everyone else stays home... Laff), but I guess I am pretty speedy.

Well I'm tired now so I should wrap up this post and head to bed. I'm looking forward to more running. Running for the fun of it and enjoying running. I love to run and I really love to run barefoot. Thankful to have other barefooters to run with downtown and I'm looking forward to my first actual barefoot race, like my rockstar wife just did. I'm also interested in trying another type of Huaraches. Robbie and I have our eyes on a pair of Unshoes Wokova Feathers. We have heard good things about them and we love the look of them. If anyone at Unshoes wants us to review them, we would love to. Otherwise we will just suck it up and buy a pair each. ;)

Until later, have a great night everyone and happy running.


Kyle

Running is more fun barefoot.

I did this post before but never got around to actually posting it. So this is from March 16th.

Today was crazy beautiful out. It was 10ºC and the sun was shining when I left for my run. This is my first long run in training for my first full marathon. Kyle and I have our sights set on the Edmonton Derby Marathon in August. It should be fun. We are hoping to make a weekend of it and leave the kids with my parents. Looking forward to the Expo and watching my cousin run the 5K.

This will be a short post because I left it way to long and now I forget a lot of the details, having 7 kids does bad things to your memory.

Anyways first off I dressed like Rainbow Bright.  Super colourful and happy to run. I love that it was so warm that I could wear my shorts and that I could wear my Lemings (Stems) without socks. I ran my favourite bike path run, that goes along two man made lakes and through some natural areas. It is super sweet to have such nice paths right out my back door. Kyle and I have looked at moving a number of times and now that we run, running paths have a big sway in where we go. We are super blessed to have lots of options to run around our neighbourhood, even if every run is a hill run.

Sunny face and weird smile. Pictures of the sweet path. The path here was bare and dry and super smooth so I couldn't resist taking my shoes off and running bare. Sweet! The only downside to my Lemings is that they don't fit well in my fuel belt, so I had to carry them in my hands. Super weird look I am sure. There were lots of people around the lakes and a  number of elderly ladies shook their heads at me as I ran past. There was water to run in and mud to muck it. So much fun. At one point I had to hop off of the path on to the grass beside because there was a huge puddle of toxic looking water full of who knows what, that I didn't want to run through. The result ...

Super muddy legs. Actually the mud from the wet grass splashed up and even got my shirt muddy. This picture was after I had tried to clean the mud off with some snow. I decided to put my shoes back on because this side of the path was in the shade and covered with slush and snow. Finished my run, 8 miles total and 2 barefoot. It was great. I got home and hopped into the bath with some warm tea. The tub was covered in mud after my bath. I am so happy to run. I felt like a kid running through puddles and mud. It was great. I am hoping for lots more warm weather and many more mile run barefoot.


 Oh yeah I forgot that this was the anniversary of when I first started running. I started the Couch 2 5K program on March 16th 2011. My first run. I am amazed at how far I've come in a year. Comparing stats: last year I weighed 210lbs, I was 5 months into losing weight and had lost 50lbs already. I was dead scared to run outside incase anyone saw me. I stuck to my treadmill. I thought that the 30 second intervals of running were torture and couldn't imagine ever running for a full 30 mins. Now in 2012 I am down to 140lbs, I have run 2 half marathons and I run 5K easily without even really thinking about it. I run outside without shoes, in bright colours, covered in mud basically demanding that people look at me. I am no longer scared to be seen running. Even though I am still not the fastest lady around I am getting faster and I am loving every second of my runs. (maybe not every second but most) I am so grateful and blessed to have found this new life. It has given me the energy and drive that I have need to get through the other hard things in my life. I am thankful to God that He has given me a body that can bounce back after 6 pregnancies and a decade of unhealthy living, not without some reminders of where I've been but with a sense that I have been to the other side and this life is so much sweeter.

Robbie-Lynn

Natural Running Coaching

I am sure by now if you are following the barefoot movement, you have heard the debate and commentary for and against barefoot running coaching. There are those who say that to run barefoot without injury all you need to do is ditch the shoes and listen to your body. Others say that while ditching your shoes can be good, it is more important to learn to run with proper form with a coach. Both schools believe that form is important. Trust me if you have ever heel striked in bare feet you know that form is important. Ouch! When I first began to run without shoes I really felt like all I ever needed was me and my feet and the information that the ground gave me to help me run injury free. Unfortunately I live in a climate that really only allows for complete barefoot running about 5 months of the year. At least for me this is true. I know there are some hardcore barefooters out there who would run all through our nasty winters without shoes, but I just don't see me doing this. So after a few weeks of blissful barefoot running I had to put on some shoes to keep my feet warm and safe. For me keeping my feet warm is crucial as I have Raynaud's phenomenon so when my fingers and toes get cold I experience a lot of pain. Not so good for running without shoes in Canada. So I started running in minimalist shoes, first vibrams then in water shoes. The difference in my running form was slight but significant. I began to experience tightness in my calfs and running became less fun. If you look back here you can see that I was less than thrilled about running. It seemed like so much work, trying to get my form right and dealing with pain when I couldn't. This is when Kyle and I decided that a Natural Running Coaching session could really help. See it is quite hard to get the feedback from your feet when your feet are covered by thick wool socks and shoes, no matter how thin those shoes are.

So after that long introduction about why we chose to get coaching, let me tell you about my experience with it. Tina sent us a video of the basic mechanics of running. It detailed that there are 3 main running forms. Heel striking over strider, Forefoot striking over strider, and the elusive Natural running form.

The heel striking over-strider is the form most shod runners, and some minimalist runners use. The heel hits the ground first way out in front of the body and then the trail leg follows. There is a large distance between the front and back leg. 

The forefoot striking over-strider is where most barefoot and minimalist newbies fall. This is where I was. basically I was landing on my forefoot but reaching to far forward with my feet thus not landing under my body.  As you can see in my video I was leaning way back. I was my way of being sure I was leaning forward but like with many things I took it too far. The coaching helped fix somethings immediately but I was very disconnected with my body and I had a hard time adjusting and doing the things Tina told me. I couldn't for the life of me tip my hips in the right direction. I was disappointed after the session, not with Tina or the coaching but with my inability to 'fix' my running form. I may or may not have a problem with not being perfect at the things I do. I wanted to be a natural runner without needing to change anything.

Thankfully, Tina sent me home with so exercises to do and some ideas about how I can get my hips and feet under me. In the next weeks I practiced and practiced and I noticed my running form was getting better. I could figure out where my hips should be and I was able to shorten my stride. I still have to work on my cadence, I am a little slow. Every time I up my cadence it feels like hard work and I stop doing it. I really love running but I don't like running to feel like hard work.

Kyle and I met up with Tina at Martin Parnell's Right to Play run in Cochrane on Dec 31st. She offered to tape us running again. I was so surprised at how much better my form was.

My feet were under my body, I wasn't leaning and my cadence was getting better. I am so thrilled!!!

I now understand that Natural Running Coaching isn't a one stop fix it. It is a lesson, a tool to use in this journey to natural and barefoot running. I would do it again and probably I will check in with Tina every now and then to tune up any sloppiness that I am sure will come. I recommend getting a coaching session at some point in your journey. It is amazing how great running feels now. I am injury free and I feel like I am flying again when I run. An added bonus, I am faster now too, without really any added effort. How cool is that?

I highly recommend Tina and her coaching. She is offering coaching in person right now and I have heard a rumour that she may be adding some online coaching as well. Check her out, you will love her, I know that I am thrilled and so happy that we jumped in and had our coaching session. If you have had natural running coaching, did you like it? Did your form change? If you get a hold of Tina for coaching I'd love to hear how it went for you.

Take care,
Robbie