I would run barefoot for pumpkin pie!

Sorry, a little late posting today as I was trying to finish a paper for a class I'm taking.

Ok, well today was warmer and the snow is slowly disappearing. I'm hoping for that the ice has cleared enough on the Incline so that I can climb it on Tuesday morning.  I was only able to go on Monday last week, and it's driving me crazy. Will run in my invisible shoes again, but may have to use socks depending on the temperature. I know at some point I will have to shift to shoes, but I spend so much time barefoot or just in my sandals, that shoes feel odd.

Today I did get in a 5k run in the neighborhood.  It's the third time running that loop in the Invisible shoes, and it went well, although my feet and calves still start to tire near the end, and my form starts to suffer.  Regardless, I still outran my couch today!

Next Saturday is the next Nielsen Challenge.  This is a great event sponsored by the Pikes Pike Roadrunners.  It is a 2 mile handicapped event that is on the first Saturday of every month.  The goal is to improve your time of course, and they use a handicapping system, rewarding the person with the most improvement each month. This Saturday will be my 3rd run.  My first was 22:40, and my last one was 22:10 (first run in only the sandals).  Hopefully I will continue to shave time off, or at least stop having little kids and grandma's leaving me in the dust!

Oh.... and I've added a "Recipes" page up top.  Thought I could start sharing some of my favorites there.  Today, I made a gluten, dairy, soy free crustless pumpkin pie that was really good.  I liked making pumpkin pies without crusts anyway, just because I like the pumpkin part way more.  This recipe really worked out great and was a hit with the family.  We saved one pumpkin from the pumpkin patch that I baked up and used for this recipe.  If you don't want to use canned pumpkin, just cut a pumpkin in half, remove the seeds, turn over on a pan with 1/2 inch of water and bake at 450F for 45 minutes.. then just scoop it out to use in recipes.

Wow... that's a lot of blah blah blah for one night...  have a safe and happy Halloween..  will check back in after the Incline on Tuesday.

Happy Friday...

Well, I decided not to go up the Incline this morning, as it was around 19F, and I knew since it was slushy yesterday, it would be plenty icy this morning.  I need to invest in some YakTrax before I attempt it in those kind of conditions.  Instead, it got up to around 40F today, and sunny, so I opted to go for a run in the neighborhood.  I set off on a 5K loop, being careful to watch the icy patches in the shade.  Still ran in my Invisible Shoes without socks, but put some sweats on just because it was cooler.  As I ran down and past the elementary school, I saw that it was recess.  As I glanced over looking to see if our boys were out, I passed into some shade... hit an ice patch... and in a split second I was on my back in the middle of the sidewalk!  Fortunately, my injuries were limited to my pride as I quickly jumped up and continued on.. hoping no one saw me!

Anyway, it was a good run, albeit a bit slow.  Snail pace or not, I still outran my couch!

Oh.. and speaking of running (barefoot/minimalist or not), this run looks awesome!  Check it out

http://runforyourlives.com/


Hope you all have a great weekend :-)

Brrr...

Well... looks like we are about 1/2 way or more toward 10 inches of snow between last night and today.  While I am all for working on my cold weather tolerance for my feet, this is a bit beyond my threshold! I was planning on doing the Incline tomorrow morning, but thinking I may push that to Friday and see what the conditions are like.

This leads me more to thinking about how to get good runs in during the more extreme times in the winter.  We are considering getting a treadmill, but I know that can pose some challenges for barefoot running also.  If you are considering this as an alternative, Michael Sandler offers some great advice here.

On the days that I don't run, I have a DVD workout that I have been using for the last year or so. It's from the reality show The Biggest Loser.  I really like it because you can customize workouts and start off easy and work your way up.  Currently I do both of the strength/conditioning workouts back to back on non-running days.  I highly recommend this DVD... it has really helped me develop better core strength and leg strength for skiing/running. It really is geared to be a great starting point if you haven't worked out at all, but allows you to customize once you are in better shape.  And look it's only $7.54 on Amazon here.

Here's to working out no matter the weather!

Good eats.... free your feets..

Ok...  in addition to working towards pure barefoot running, I also have been working on eating well. But that doesn't mean eating just vegetables, tree bark etc...   I continue to come across amazing recipes that are also great for you. Here's a link to some Raspberry Thumbprint cookies that are grain/dairy/soy free, that somehow magically come out awesome!  Check it out from Lillian's Test Kitchen !

Also this weekend, I was glad my wife was able to  pick up Barefoot Running: How to run light and free by Michael Sandler from the library.  I had started to read it last month, but didn't finish it.  It's a great book, with a lot of training tips that I have been using.  Not so sure about the touchy feely "get in synch with the earth by bonding with it" part, but from a technical perspective it is a terrific resource.

It was a great morning on the Incline, however my time was a bit slow.  I certainly was feeling the effects of not working out for 3 days and being a bit more liberal with my food choices over the weekend.  Regardless, my feet were feeling great on the way down.  I am starting to notice that I am developing more padding in my feet, and they were much less tender today.  The moon was really cool, as it was a crescent, but bright enough you could see the glowing outline of the entire moon.  Snapped the obligatory photo below :-)

"Legs on Fire"

I normally don't listen to music while trail running, as I find it kind of distracts and detracts from the experience. However, I do often listen to that internal biological iPod we all carry in our heads..  you know, the one that often get stuck on repeat, continuously playing  some terrible song.  Well, today as I was churning my way up the Incline I had the Kings of Leon song, "Sex on Fire" playing in my head..  although since I was in the middle of the false summit grind, the lyrics changed to "Legs on Fire"..  anyway... it made me laugh.. at 530 am... in the dark.. halfway up a mountain... by myself..hmm.. perhaps I have issues.

Ok, what I was supposed to relay was my experience with wearing my hacked up toe socks with my Invisible Shoes.  First, it wasn't as cold as I expected (32 when I left the house, but had to be close to 40 when I started), but I ran with the socks anyway. On the plus side, my toes did stay warmer, and there was very little slipping in the sandal which was good. There might have been a little slippage, but any extra pressure in the toe string may have been mitigated by the socks.  On the downside, the ground feel was certainly muffled, and I could tell it was impacting my form a little.  I think I may just carry them and put them on if I really need them, otherwise, I'll continue to work on conditioning my feet.

Ok then... that's today's post..  posting a video from Kings of Leon so you can have this song stuck in your internal iPod also (at least its a great song!), and a snapshot of today's sunrise from about halfway down.

Warmin' up

Ok.. maybe I'm crazy.. well, don't answer that.  Since it has been getting closer to freezing in the mornings on the Incline, I've been debating how to keep my toes warm.  I want to hold off on running in conventional shoes as long as I can.  I poked around looking for sock options, like these yoga socks from Injinji, but they are pricey. It dawned on me that I just bought a few pairs of poly socks from Old Navy for $1.25 a pair on clearance.  So, what the heck, I marked the space between my toes, cut it, and sewed them back up.  Bam! toe socks for my Invisible Shoes! My only concern is the impact it will have on the traction of my foot against the foot bed of the sandals.  Thursday morning will be the test as I run up the incline, and 3.5 miles downhill on the Barr Trail.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Jeff

Here we go..

Ok, first post to my first blog.  If you want all the gory details about how I got here, you can read the "about me" tab.  

Yesterday I did the Incline around 530 AM. It was another beautiful sunrise, and fortunately not too chilly.  I am concerned as it gets colder how my bare feet (in sandals) will hold up.  I think initially I need to find some toe socks to keep them a little warmer. Eventually I'll have to wear shoes I am sure, but for now I'm holding out!  Did the climb in 47:07 which is a new personal best.  Going again Thursday morning :-)    Attached is a picture from the back side of the Incline I took of Pikes Peak.

Have a great day!