An Uninformed Stupid Comment

A reader commented on my post entitled, "My adidas Spam Today".  In that post, I commented on an adidas model called "Ambition Power Bounce".  It is $130 of marketing and design bullcrap.  Check them out yourself if you don't believe me.  The adidas web site copy actually says, "So every time you head out for a run you have the chance to redefine who you are as a runner."  Um, yea, shoes can do that.  Not!  A PERSON can do that, not the shoes.

I have some running shoes that even I would defend mightily: Saucony Kilkenny, Reebok Circa and VFF.  So I guess I can appreciate a person that goes to bat for a shoe.  At the same time, I am kinda happy that A.) someone would actually read my post and comment on it, and B.) that there are still people out there that are hostile to running barefoot even after the Born To Run bonanza.

Anyway, I figured I can answer some of HyperHorse's questions in the comment directly here, even though I really think we should all just go out for a run, shod or not, and that it is all good.

HH. How the hell are your feet & ankles holding up, now that you're running barefoot???

TM. Well, it has been a relatively rough year.  I broke two toes this year, but they were both really stupid moves, off road, in the midst of awesome runs.  I must say they healed surprisingly quickly, and gave me an opportunity to enjoy my many bicycles to the max.  My goal for each break was to come out of the injuries more fit than I went into them.  I reached that goal for both of them.  Besides those two toes, the rest of my feet are completely healthy and happy.  They are strong and look great.  My ankles are golden.  That is why I got into running barefoot in 2004, to stop twisting ankles.

HH. And if you weren't such a lazy dumbass, since you don't apparently need shoes anymore, why don't you unsubscribe from the Adidas mailing list???

TM. OK, I will admit that I am lazy, and even a dumbass at times.  Frequently perhaps.  Aren't we all?  But I still need shoes sometimes!  I am not one of those really crazy 100% barefooters.  I run about half my yearly mileage barefoot.  What if adidas comes out with a wonderful minimal shoe at some point that I might want to buy?  Or I might want some of their cool clothes.  I need that mailing list.  If not for the possibility of a bargain, then just for the occasional comic relief.

HH. I've actually tried these on and I'm very impressed with the feel and cushioning of these shoes...  So maybe try them on before making an uninformed stupid comment?
TM. That is great and I am glad you like them.  I would not be inclined to try them on because there is simply too much shoe there and I don't think I have ever spent over about $80 for a running shoe even when I was into their alleged advancements in technology for our protection.  To me, that impressive cushioning would be painful.  Every step would force a heel strike: ouch.  I am going to choose to remain uninformed and stupid because I am an American, and that is what we like.

Found While Looking for Past Boston Marathon Times: My Marathoning History

I am on this slow psych-up for Boston this week.  I figured I would look in my old "Race Results" file and see if I could find some record of my previous two Boston Marathon times.  I ran it a long time ago.  I would say the last time I ran it was at least 20 years ago.  No kidding.  I did not find any certificates for Boston - I have not given up because I have a shelf in a closet full of old running logs from when we had to write it down in a notebook - BUT I did find four interesting certificates from 1975-1978.  The Jersey Shore Marathon was my first road race.  Yes, after cross country there was no indoor track at my high school.  A bunch of guys decided to train for this marathon thing.  Why?  It was the year after Frank Shorter won the Olympic marathon.  Bill Rodgers was on a roll.  Marathoning was what distance runners did when they got serious.  We didn't even know that there were other, shorter races on the road.  We were pretty dumb about road racing, and about running marathons.  But we just did it.  Is that crazy or what?

I ran my first marathon when I was 15 years old, January 19, 1975.  I was a sophomore in high school.  My son is 15 now - a freshman running track.  I showed him my certificate and told him I ran my first marathon when I was 15.  I asked if he wanted to try it.  Not yet, he said.  I hope my running history does not put undue pressure on expectations of his performance.  It probably does, but I really try not to push it on him too much.  Just setting an example and showing interest in his efforts, whatever the result is, should be enough.  Too much will push him out of it, probably.

Here is a scan of the 1977 certificate.  I ran a 4:24:18 in my first marathon.  If I remember correctly, I didn't train too much for it.  I think probably only a few weeks of running, maxing out at only about 12 miles.

The following year, with another track and XC season behind me, I ran it again.  If I remember the race correctly, it was freezing cold and snowing.  I remember an icicle formed on the face-mask/hat thing I wore.  I touched my chin at the half-marathon turn-around and thought my chin was literally frozen, but it was just the icicle formed by my exhales.  At 16 years old I ran 3:35:30.

In my third marathon - my third road race, at 17 years old, a senior in high school - I broke three hours, running the Jersey Shore Marathon in 2:53:21.  In retrospect, I feel like I was a fairly good distance runner at a fairly young age.  I didn't really appreciate that until now, at 49, when it was a painful struggle to to run 3:18 last November in Philly.  Also, this makes me kind of psyched, to recall all this marathoning history that I honestly forgot about, as I am heading into Boston on Monday for its 113th running.  It will be my 19th marathon, if I have my count correct.

In 1978 I was a freshman at Rutgers.  I was a lowly walk-on to the Rutgers XC and track teams.  I ran the Penn Relay Marathon in 2:41 and change.  I was the third college runner, and I have a bronze Penn Relays medal to show for it.  This was a time that I was doing hundred mile training weeks leading up to marathons. 

I think I was lucky.  My desire to run marathons at a young age was fueled by Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, and the culture of distance running that I became acquainted with.  It was, and still is, my source of friendship and feelings of self-esteem and accomplishment.  I am hoping that Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher become roll models for the young high school aged runners and spur them on to a great running life.

Post-Philly Thoughts

Analyzing my splits, I could have possibly gained a few minutes during the final three miles, when I was crashing, by running a little slower during the first half of the race.  I am thinking of running The Boston Marathon in April.  Perhaps more long runs, and a few more than two hours, might erase the rapid decline in pace over the last three miles of the race.

Reacting to some other people's comments, I now realize the effect of the wind chill factor.  I remember talking to people before the race, after walking almost 2 miles from my parked car, and feeling that my face was cold enough to cause my speech to be slurred.  That should have given me a clue that my core temperature was below normal, especially for starting a race.  I changed into shorts just before the start of the race.  It felt warmer than the wind chill dictated at that time because I was in the shelter of the bag check area, protected from the wind by dozens of school buses formed up into sort of a corral, and surrounded by hundreds of other runners.  The result was an inability to warm up.  The top of my left hamstring had an unnatural tightness for a few miles.  My quads were sore from about mile 8 to the end of the race.  I didn't remove my had or gloves ever, even though I usually do that to moderate my body temperature at some points during most training runs that require hats and gloves.  It was cold enough to make my Powerbar gels feel almost chewy and make the water and Gatorade go down with ice-cream-headache swallows.

I told a lot of people I was going to run the first half of this race conservatively.  I just wanted to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time.  For me, that is 3:30 = 8 min/mile.  I found myself in the first corral, got sucked into a 7:10 pace, perhaps - partially, at least - in an effort to get warm.  And once you are in a pace, it is hard to step back and get out of it when you are surrounded by an endless crowd of fellow runners.  The taper always makes the first half of a marathon feel much too easy.  Although this was my 17th marathon, the third in three years after a big marathon-break of perhaps 12 years, I still was a little foolish.

But I shouldn't judge myself so harshly, since marathoning itself is both an immensely self-important and an immensely foolish activity.  Yet, for so many people, the foolhardy few hours we are out there running a marathon marks a pinnacle in time.   The marathon defines and justifies everything we have done in our daily lives to lead up to it, and sets up our plans for everything we do to recover and improve after the event.  These effects go beyond simply training for our next race - it leads us to living a more transcendent, productive, meaningful life.

Self-Definitive Comment Posted

I posted this comment after reading this at Scienceline.com:

I am a lifelong running-boom runner, starting at age 14 in 1977. Back then we ran in Tiger racing flats all the time. Over the last 35 years, the running shoe industry has flourished, inflating soles and prices to where a top technical shoe costs over $100!  

For the past 4 years, I have been running 20-50% of my 30-50 miles per week barefoot. It has changed me from a heel striker to midfoot striker, raised a flat arch to a normal arch, negated chronic ankle twisting, allows me to run fast with less intervals, and just feels better than running with shoes. When I do wear shoes, they are minimal cross-country flats. I also go about my daily life as barefoot as possible to support my foot strength for running. It goes against everything the shoe companies ever told us over the last 35 years.  

The research has suggested and will continue to conclude that shoes are overrated and over built, often causing more injuries than they are meant to correct. Perhaps this is a self-induced market reset, just like what is happening on Wall Street.  

Run fast and light and as barefoot as you can!