Barefoot Summer in Tennessee

Happy Summertime Barefoot Runners!


I hope everyone is enjoying the Summer and getting in some good workouts.  I started the month off with a 20 miler and ended it this morning with a 17 miler, but actually those were the two longest runs of the month. 

20 Miler to Start the Month!

I had some relatively "low mileage" weeks the first two weeks of July.  I ran the 20 on July 1 and the main reason was that I had just gotten back from Asia and the weather felt so much better, 10 degrees cooler and much less humid.  That would change by the end of the month but it really felt good at the time and was quite a contrast to what I had experienced on my two-week Asia trip weather-wise. 


The second week was our family vacation down to Tennessee and I basically decided to just run whatever felt comfortable each day and let it go at that.  We camped at Henry Horton State Park about 40 miles south of Nashville.  We camped the whole week (Saturday to Saturday) and really enjoyed the amenities of the park.  We had a nice 4 mile hike the first day we were there.  Later we enjoyed the Olympic sized swimming pool, the golf course and the buffet lunch at the lodge.  Each day we would travel back up towards Nashville to see the sites or other days to some of the more "local" attractions, such as Civil War sites, etc. 

Visiting with Uncle Bob in Gallatin TN
-- 91 Years Young! --

One day we even got to visit my 91-year old Uncle Bob up in Gallatin, just north of Nashville.  He is quite an inspiration to me and my family.  He lives on his own in an awesome house on a hill out in the country which he and my Aunt Mary Lee built back in the nineties.  Aunt Mary Lee has since passed away, but Uncle Bob is still going strong.  He takes care of the entire property by himself and insisted on fixing lunch for us the day we came, even though we offered to take him out to lunch.  He showed me and the girls his model train set up in the basement and we also got to see his family of pet deer (wandering through the yard!) which now has a set of twins!  He attributes his longevity to a good attitude, no prescription drugs (or a daily pill of any kind) and a good glass of wine each day!  Not a bad regimen!

11 Miler in Tennessee

While in Tennessee, my runs were relatively short since I was waking up in the tent each morning and then negotiating the gravel road out of the campsite to some relatively busy roads and highways around Chapel Hill, where Henry Horton State Park is located.  On my Tuesday run up Highway 99, I hit a really nasty patch of loose, sharp gravel and ended up with a deep bruise on the ball of my left foot.  This sort of shortened the rest of my vacation runs although by Saturday I did work back up to an 11 miler once I discovered Highway 270 to the east of town, which offered smoother roads, less traffic and well, NO GRAVEL!  Yeah! 


Once back home in Indiana, I bumped the mileage back up to a 55 and then a 70 mile week but the monthly total of 215 still only ranked 4th for the year and nowhere near my record of 404 set last September...and I have NO plans of breaking that anytime soon.  In fact, I'm not really too interested in records this year at all.  Main reason is that I set them all too high last year and so now I'm just enjoying running whatever distance feels good each day.


I also signed up for two additional races this month.  As most of you know already, I was already signed up for Albuquerque NM in October and Disney World, FL in January to complete my 50<4 (50 Sub 4) goal of running all 50 states under 4 hours.  Well, now I went and added one more marathon in between these two.  I signed up for the Indy Monumental in November as part of our church's marathon/half-marathon team raising money and awareness for World Vision and it's clean water for Africa project.  (and yes, I'll be hitting you up for money soon!)


The other race I signed up for is special as well.  It's only a 5K distance-wise, but it is special since it is part of the Annual Twinsburg Ohio Twins Day Celebration and I will be running as a team with my identical twin brother Dave.  We will be there this coming weekend and will participate in many different activities while there including a twin golf outing.  I'm also bringing along my 15 year old twin daughters Megan and Sarah and they are very excited.  We've never done anything like this before and had fun shopping for identical clothes last weekend.  Megan and Sarah aren't identical but they are getting into the twin-mania thing all the same!  It should be a lot of fun.


Enjoy the Summer (even though the days are already getting shorter!),


Barefoot Dan


July Mileage = 215.94 miles  (1360 so far in 2016)

Back Home After 88 Barefoot Miles in Asia

Hello Barefoot Runners,
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  I'm just returning from a two-week business trip to Asia and enjoyed some great barefoot running over there.  Actually, I'm now sitting here in Minneapolis on a flight delay...as per usual, the very last flight of the trip has the issue.  I'm ready to fly back to Indy and everyone is all here...except the pilot!  So, it's a good time to sit here and write this blog.


Rachel's Graduation Night - Family Selfie

Rachel's Grad Party

We started of the month of June by celebrating our oldest daughter Rachel's graduation from Westfield High School.  We had many different celebrations and parties to go to and we are very proud of Rachel and the fine young lady she has grown up to be.  She will be attending Manchester University in the Fall to study Elementary Education.  

I got in some huge weekly totals the first two weeks of the month.  This was intentional since I wasn't really sure how much I would be able to do once I got over to Asia.  So for the first two weeks of the month I had my highest totals yet for the year with a 75 miler followed by a 90 miler.  Nothing like "front loading" the month to get a high monthly total.  The next week was pretty light due to some rain and the fact that I flew out to Asia on that Thursday.

Nice surfaces in Asia!

The trip to Asia was simply phenomenal and I was able to get in some really memorable runs.  We started out flying into Singapore and staying overnight.  We then flew up to Penang and rested for the weekend before starting our "tour" down the peninsula.  We started off Monday in Kulim and then transferred, through Kuala Lumpur, down to Malacca where we spent the balance of week number one.  On the weekend we then travelled back down to Singapore were we spent two days with the local teams and one day travelling by ferry boat over to Batam (part of Indonesia) before flying back to the states today.  A really neat experience spanning 3 different countries, one of which I had never been to before (Indonesia).

Singapore Headlamp Run

The first day arriving in Singapore, it was a short night but I still got up early and did a short 4 miler before heading to the airport.  It was a little rainy but I was able to find the Riverwalk area which would become the staple for my long runs on the following week.


Once up in Penang I was able to get in a nice 4 mile beach run as our hotel was right on the beach in this beautiful resort community.  The run was shortened somewhat by an incoming storm which was blowing in from the north...I didn't want to become a lightning fatality the day before we started working!  Also, I had stepped on something at about mile two, something sharp, like a sea urchin which drew blood in the arch of my right foot.  It was fine by the time I got back to the hotel and I was happy to have the short run completed as I watched what seemed like a hurricane threaten to blow the patio furniture through my sliding glass door!




Poolside in Penang Malaysia

Top of Penang Hill in Malaysia

Also while on Penang  Isand I was able to go on a city tour.  We toured through Fort Cornwallis and the Chinese Snake Temple.  I also took the cable car to the top of Penang Hill and got some fantastic views of Georgetown and the entire island.  I was able to relax by the pool and even got a one hour massage on the beach for 50 Ringet (about 12 bucks!)

 

From there we spent a long day at our Kulim wafer fab facility before flying down to KL and taxi-ing to Malacca.  I got up early the next morning and discovered some decent running paths through the ancient Portuguese ruins in downtown Malacca.  Each day I extended the runs further and further until I actually ran a 13.1 mile Half Marathon on Saturday for the last run in this beautiful historic city.

Malacca Teammates @ my company Infineon

Good Breakfast Each AM

Ever try Corn Juice?

These Malacca runs weren't without incident however.  Each morning run was done completely in the dark with my headlamp so I could run in the "cool" of the day and then have time to shower, eat breakfast and get ready for work.  The cool of the day turned out to be a pretty consistent 79 degrees with high humidity.  On the Tuesday run I encountered a Big Dog and turned around (somewhere around the Jonker Walk area) and got in my miles elsewhere.  The dogs in Malaysia seem to run loose and are generally pretty small and tame, seemingly afraid of humans, but I wasn't taking any chance with this Big One.  The next day on Wed, a prostitute actually propositioned me from her car and then proceeded to follow me for a half mile calling out "I Love You" and showing me quite graphically what she was wanting to do.  Luckily, I knew of a pedestrian only area and ducked into it to get away from her...she helped to quicken my pace if nothing else as I ran away from her as I was NOT completely sure she was a "she!"  Nuff said.



The last week we were back in Singapore and I got in a dozen or more miles each of the days we were there.  I even finished it off with a 3-mile run to a souvenir stand on Wed. night before coming back to the hotel to pack the bag and head for the airport.  All the runs, whether Malacca or Singapore had surfaces varying from rough asphalt to smooth tile and brickwork and everything in between.  I sometimes felt like I didn't even need my headlamp since the paths were so well lit.  In Singapore I was actually able to run the entire way without ever having to cross traffic or run in traffic as I was able to utilize two overhead pedestrian walkways to link to the River Walk. 

After not knowing how many miles I would be able to get in over there I was pleasantly surprised that the two week total was a little over 88 miles.  While this didn't keep the higher weekly totals from earlier in the month going, it did still give me a respectable 253 for the month which is my highest monthly total of the year.


Keep on Barefooting!


Barefoot Dan





June Monthly Total = 253 Miles

Toe Injury - "Oh No! Not Again!"

Summer is Here Barefooters!

Well barefooters, we waited through the wet cool Spring, and our reward is now here:  Summertime! 

I always enjoy the warmer weather so I can begin to extend my daily miles and start setting weekly and monthly records (for 2016 at least!)  I started the month with a weekly high record (for the year) of 65 miles.  After that I "rested up" with a 55 mile week.  This was followed by a week up in Michigan on business which I almost topped the record, but alas, it was raining on Saturday morning after my return and I just didn't have another 12 miler in me after running the rough Michigan roads so I settled for a 58 mile week and decided to extend again the next week.  This time I made it to mid-week when once again, disaster struck!  It was Wednesday and I was on my 3rd 12-miler of the week at only 1.2 miles into the run, when, BOOM, I stubbed my big toe on the left foot.  (Same toe I bloodied back in February while in CA and again hit it in the same spot...slightly...last week in MI)  I don't know exactly what it is but it seems to always happen when I'm extremely tired.  Either really late in a run, or in this case, on a day when I should have just rested instead of running at all!


I knew as soon as I did it that it was going to be bad and immediately stopped and prepared to turn back toward home.  Funny though, I immediately and instinctively thanked God and was actually happy to be ending my run (again I was really tired and sort of dreading the next 10 miles anyway).  But when I looked down I saw it was much worse that last time and sort of cringed as I began the 1.2 mile "limp" back home.  I didn't take the picture until I got back home and then tried to clean it up the best I could to get it in a sock and shoe to go to work.  

Ouch!  Same spot as 3 months ago!

As much as it hurt, I really did need a break and I looked at it as God's way of telling me to take it easy and rest.  So I did, at least for a day, and then did 6 on Friday.  All in all, though I did take it easy and relaxed the hectic pace of 10,11,12 mile days from earlier in the month.  I did end up with 231 miles for the month which was a respectable total.  We are now very busy with graduation season as Rachel graduates from Westfield High School and gets ready to start her collegiate career at Manchester University in North Manchester Indiana this Fall.  We had a graduation party for her this past Sunday (for family) and will have another this coming Saturday (for Westfield friends). 


Not sure if I will have a high mileage month in June or not, as I am travelling to Asia for the last half of the month.  I will be in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.  While I have been to some of these cities before, I haven't been to all of them and it's always a little dicey running in some of these places, especially if I'm running in the early AM with a headlamp, as I'm sure I will be.  Oh well, it will be fun to explore regardless!


So, everyone, enjoy the warmer weather (and the humidity!) and Stay Safe!

Barefoot Dan

May Mileage = 231.6miles 

Biggest Month of Year so Far - 239 Barefoot Miles

Hello Barefooters,


I'm loving the improving weather and the ability to do some longer miles.  We start the month out in Myrtle Beach on Spring Break.  We came back to snow in Indiana, but it didn't last long.  A week later I had a business trip up to Michigan and the weather was decent up there as well allowing for some good 12 milers before going to the office.
My weekly mileages were in the 50's or 60's each week and allow for my highest mileage of the year so far.  Off to do some car shopping so I'll keep the blog short!


Have a great May!


Barefoot Dan


April Mileage = 239.56 miles

Time for Spring Break!!

Happy Spring Break Barefooters!

Feeling a new surface - Rubberized Track

I hope everyone is able to get away and find a nice beach to run on somewhere.  For me and the family it will be back to Myrtle Beach SC next week, one of our favorite destinations.  My sister Jill and her husband Neal live in North Myrtle Beach and we will be visiting with them for the week.  I absolutely love this location for barefoot running since we are only a quarter mile from the beach, so about 95% of my daily morning run can be on nice hard packed sand (or surf!) and not chewed up asphalt which I'm beginning to loathe about this time every year.  At the end of the week we will come back through Ohio and visit my twin brother Dave and his family in Beaver Creek, before heading back home.


Start Line of Westfield Underground RR 5K

Well March was another great month for barefoot running.  The milder temperatures allowed me to average almost 40 miles per week which has me about a hundred miles ahead of last year's total at this point.  The second week of the month was a "6 State Tour" to visit some of my customers.  I stayed in a different place each night and got in some interesting early morning headlamp runs in each off the different locations:  Jasper, IN - Brentwood, TN - Huntsville, AL - Duluth, GA and Murfreesboro, TN (also passed through IL and KY but no running in those locations).  It was a very tiring week since most of the mornings I had 6am conference calls with our Malaysia and Germany locations and then had to go meet a customer before driving to the next location.  This meant for the most part going to bed (collapsing!) at about 9 or 10pm so I could awake by 3am to get in my 4 to 10 mile run ahead of the days activity.  This is not a schedule I would like to have every week, but it was okay for these 5 days. 

Rachel (and Linda) did the 3K Walk



Yay! 22nd place and 1st in Age Group!

Once back home I began preparing (and tapering) for the next weekend's race, the Westfield IN Underground RR 5K.  This was the 4th year in a row doing this race barefoot.


Once again I also brought along some family members to enjoy it along with me.  I asked Rachel, my oldest, to come along and reminded her that all Seniors participating in the race get 5 additional chances at the $350 scholarship drawing (25 in all) after the race is over.  Trouble is, she didn't win (and neither did any of the on-site participants!) as this drawing is also open to all Westfield Seniors each year.  My wife Linda also came along and did the 3K walk along with Rachel so even if she didn't get the scholarship she did get some exercise!

Linda, Rachel and friends at start line

I was happy with the new and improved course which started and ended on the brand new track at the recently opened stadium.  The course then turned north on Union and bypassed the chipped up asphalt of Harvest Meadows (not fun for barefooters!) and onto a brand new wide section of pavement connecting to East Street where the course then turned toward the south.  The rest of the course was the same as last year - winding through Asa Bales Park - until the finish which again landed us on the new track.


The weather was cool (predicted light snow did not occur) but it was perfect racing weather.  I missed my BPR (Barefoot Personal Record) again for the second year in a row, but did manage to finish 22nd overall and 1st in my age group ("old men" 50-55!)  This once again netted me a $15 gift certificate to the Blue Mile running store so I basically ran for free, recouping my $15 entry fee.  I cashed in the gift certificate for a new arm sleeve to carry my Iphone-6 which I can use with the "MapMyRun" app instead of my Garmin. 


I'm not sure I love the sleeve yet, however, as it is almost easier to put the phone in my pocket and also the fingerprint ID doesn't work through the thick plastic window ,so stopping my run at the end takes a series of key-strokes.  Oh well, it's still a good back-up for when I forget my Garmin on a business trip or forget to charge it up.  The freebie MapMyRun app works great and almost "better" than Garmin since I don't have to wait for the annoying "Searching for Satellite" message, which is definitely the downside of the Garmin.


Anyway, my month is ending well, and I hope to continue the higher mileage daily runs into the summer...at least I will for next week on Spring Break!


Everybody, Keep on Barefooting!


Barefoot Dan


March Mileage = 167 Miles

Barefoot Leap Day (and High Mileage February)

Happy Leap Day Barefooters,
I hope everyone is finding SOME good warm days to run, even though it is still February.  Surprisingly it seemed there were several nice days even though we did continue to get some really cold weather and more snow and ice.  I usually waited for the "heat of the day" and ran after work but before dark (a narrow window!)  And then other days, it was warm enough to run before work so I got out early with the headlamp and logged a few short runs.  I was able to get in between 30 and 40 miles each week so overall this was a pretty big February. 



Nice Place to Run!

The other nice thing was that during the 2nd week, which was the coldest of the month, I was blessed with a 4 day business trip out to California.  The first day of the trip I was at my company location in Temecula and got in a nice 10.5 mile run before going into the office.  The rest of the trip I was down in San Diego since we took our customer to visit our operations in Tijuana Mexico.  I was staying in a place I hadn't stayed before so I knew I would have to scout out the new area when I got there to see if there would be any good places to run.  I got there in the late afternoon in time to walk down to the park close by (in shoes...it was actually too hot to barefoot run at about 85 degrees!)  I quickly found a good place to run so I was very happy to be able to get in some more long runs while in the warmth.

I stayed near Mission Bay and Sea World in San Diego and found a really nice path to run on each of the two mornings I was there.  From my hotel I could run about 3/4 of a mile and into Mission Bay Park which has a beautiful wide concrete bike bath all the way to the back of Sea World (about 4.5 miles total) and with some extra spurs got in 11 or 12 miles each day.  I extended my miles each day in California knowing that it was single digits back in Indiana and maybe wouldn't have gotten in any miles at all back here.  The path was completed deserted when I went out each morning at o'dark thirty and the temps were always in the mid fifties, perfect running weather wherever you are.  The path hugged the coast of Mission and went through the Hilton complex on the way to the backside of Sea World.  The path turned to gravel at that point so I didn't venture far down it.  I ran part of the Sea World parking lot as well, but it was VERY rough and not worth the effort with the nice patch of concrete calling me back toward the hotel.  I enjoyed the peaceful warm morning running under the stars, which are also had to see this time of year back in Indiana!  The path was much smoother than what I had run on up in Temecula so I figured I would be able to get a nice one in on my last day there as well.

Ouch!
  Note to Self:  "Don't stub toe while running barefoot!"

On Friday morning before flying back at 6:15 am I went out very early so that I would have enough time to still get in a long run and then sleep on the plane back to Indiana.  I went out and did basically the same route but added a few more out and backs on the section down by Sea World.  I was on one sort of circular turn around (maybe a parking/camp site) and as I turned to go back I stubbed my toe HARD on a curb and heard a loud CRACK!!  I was sure I had broken my toe.  When I looked down, I was shocked to see my toe bleeding like a stuck pig.  But it didn't feel broken and I could move it.  Since I was using my Iphone (Map My Run) as I forgot my Garmin charger back in Temecula, I used the camera to snap a photo of my foot (sorry, I know it's gross.)  I was more than a little panicked at that point since I was still 3.5 miles from my hotel!  I said a quick ,desperate prayer that my toe would be alright and kept running.  I kept praying (breath prayers) the whole way back that I would get it infected (with some weird Vikka virus) running through the puddles from the sprinklers along the trail.

Looked a little better back at the hotel,
but still throbbing.

Since I had extended once again and decided to get in a 12+ miler before turning in the rental car and jumping on the plane, I kept praying hard that I could keep up my pace and not have to start walking or limping.  He again answered my prayers and I made it back to the hotel in time to take a quick shower, put some Neosporin on the toe, wrap it in a tissue and stuff it in the sock and shoe.  It did keep throbbing on the plane ride home but not too bad.  I did make it back to Indiana and then decided not to run on it the next day which was still nice and cold anyway.  By Monday it was better and I did run on it again without any problem.  The rest of the month did have some bad weather but there were enough good days in between that I was able to keep the mileage up.  I finished off the month this morning with a 7.2 mile headlamp run to top the month at 150 miles (my biggest barefoot February ever!)  I'm also celebrating my 7th Leap Day with Linda (we've both now had 7 Leap Days with and 7 Leap Days without each other...wow, what a milestone!)
Hopefully the weather will continue to warm and I can keep this mileage pace going in March.  Looking forward to Spring Break in about a month with a little beach running.  Hope everyone out there is enjoying the mild winter and if not, don't worry...Spring IS coming soon. 

Stay Warm Out There,
Barefoot Dan
February Mileage = 150.7 Miles

Cold Weather Running

Hello Barefooters,

Barefoot Prints - January 2016

January has been pretty relaxing, since it started out pretty cold.  This was nice since I really needed the rest from my big push at the end of last year to hit the 2500mile mark.  The first two weeks of the month were the coldest and as a result I didn't do much barefoot running.  Actually, I only ran 5 times for a total of 27 miles those first two weeks.  During the third week we had another snowstorm but I was up in Michigan on a business trip.  I stayed at a different hotel than normal this time so I checked our their treadmills.  I did three days in a row on the treadmill and got in 5 or 6 miles each day. 


The tricky part about barefoot running on a treadmill is to find one that doesn't get too hot!  Believe it or not, the belt can get hot enough to blister your pads and toes if you aren't careful!  Depending on the quality of the belt and deck, some treadmills stay relatively cool.  The other factor is how well the unit is maintained.  If the surface of the deck is regularly treated with graphite or other lubricant, the belt can stay relatively cool since the friction will be reduced.


Regardless of the quality of the treadmill or it's maintenance plan, I still like to move around on the belt while running.  I basically try to run in 4 different spots on the belt:  top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right.  I can usually run a half mile in each spot and by the time I get through all 4, I go back to the original spot and it's usually cooled back down.  This requires a little bit of concentration to not step off the side of the belt or hit the front rail or, God forbid, step off the back roller!  It makes the boring workout a little less boring by moving around a little without falling off.


Still, I hate treadmills, so I was very happy to have a warm Saturday when I got back from Michigan and got to run outside for 8 miles here in Indiana.  The problem, of course is the wet and salty roads.  It's sort of like running on meat tenderizer!  My feet were a little raw after three days of abrasive treadmill running followed by the 8 miler on salty meat tenderizer!


This week warmed up nicely and I got in several long runs after work...a little tricky since sundown is at 6pm!  I was able to get in a total of 51 miles for the week and a monthly total of 102 miles...not bad for a cold January.  Longest run of the month was yesterday - a nice sunny (but cold) 15 miler.  Still, I'm ready for warmer weather.  Bring


Stay Warm,


Barefoot Dan


January Mileage = 102 miles