Red Rocks Blue Sky

For 2007 I decided I needed a big juicy goal. I was approaching my 40th birthday and was planning on a few adventures. I wanted to run to the top of two of Utah’s smaller peaks here in Souther Utah. First, Utah Peak and then Signal Peak. Both were doable. I was getting into pretty good shape, although I could barely run a couple of miles without being winded as of last year (July 2006), I was being consistent and my mileage and speed were continuing to grow.

I was however being plagued by sore knees, hips, and ankles. I just thought that this was the way it had to be. To get rid of the problems I felt that you just had to get into better shape and the pain I was feeling was what you had to go through to get there. Then I came across an amazing article about about a tribe of Indians in Mexico that could run all day long with little or no injuries. The technique that was described was barefoot running. I then started to find more and more information about running barefoot. I incorporated this training into my runs. A “ball heal” foot landing pattern which was completely opposite to how I was currently running — “heal ball.” I felt It was making a difference. My runs were now getting longer and longer and I was not suffering from irritating joint issues, sore muscles yes, but none of the other issues that would often sideline me for a few days.

So back to the big juicy goal. Although I had incorporated this new technique (barefoot running) into my training I was doing it only on grass or while wearing shoes. I could not bring myself to do it on any surface such as asphalt, concrete, and or dirt. I mean come one I am a big guy and that would be kind of like silly. But the thought of running barefoot would not leave me alone. Everyday that I would go out the challenge to run barefoot on a hard surface would not leave me. So In March I went out in the evening to experiment, once around the block, and wow, what I thought was barefoot running was not even close. The hard surface of the asphalt was now giving me what the grass or the shoes could not — Instant feedback. The next day I tried it again, but this time it was twice around the block, about one mile, and with the instant feedback, I was making major adjustments in my running style. On the third day, I loaded up my hydration pack, attached my solomon running shoes to it, and took off. I planned to run barefoot to the river and then change into shoes for my 6 mile trail run. So about 3/4 mile on asphalt, with a 500 yard downhill that ends in a farmers field with about another 500 yards of soft dirt, construction debris, and strewn small rocks to get to the Santa Clara river.  The downhill on the asphalt was painful to the tops of my feet and caused me to almost slow to a walk. At the bottom was a lot of pea sized stones that just hurt. I was not going to show it though, as a crew of construction workers looked on, as I ran past.  

I will compete in my first race outside of running cross country in high school. It will be my first marathon 26 miles 386 yards. I am 6′6 and weigh 230lbs and will race in the Clydesdale class. I have just turned 40 years old and I will run it barefoot.

I have been training since the end of March of this year 2007 and I now have eleven weeks available for training.

I will be posting my training diary here each day and here is my first entry:

October 7th is eleven weeks away. I feel that my conditioning is going well. However to ensure that my training is spot on I created a training plan using the Runners World Smart Coach. It is a web based wizard that mathematically uses 40 years of collective “running wisdom” to compute a training plan. It is way cool as I now have a plan that is broken down for the next 11 weeks. It consists of a number of components; long runs, rest days, tempo runs, speed work, and easy runs.

Yesterday was my first tempo run. I pushed hard. It felt quite good as my speed was constant and I felt relaxed. There are two hill on the course that I am running. On the first hill I watched a young woman on a mountain bike turn up the hill a few minutes before me. As I turned and spotted her I dug down and kept the RPM’s high for I knew that I could catch her and pass. I was right. One of the cool things about barefoot running is that you are able to run up hills much faster than shod runners. And that includes mountain bikers. I soon cought up to the biker and passed. You should have seen the look up surprise on her face.

I am looking forward to my run on monday where I will do my first 14 mile run barefoot. My previous distance record has been 12.5 miles three weeks ago.

Michael Carroll