March turned out to have a few weather challenges but overall was a great month with some high running totals -- over 100 miles for the month which puts me well on my way to a 1000 mile year. The month started with the Amboy 5K Race in Amboy IN. This was a great little Sat. morning race and I brought along my 12 year old daughter Megan to challenge the out - and - back course. What I didn't remember (from my shod days) was how ROUGH the middle mile of the course is...sort of Chip and Seal on steroids which made for a slow and painful middle mile of the race. But hey, it was a BPR (that's Barefoot Personal Record!) at 25:17 or an 8:09 pace overall. This was good enough for 2nd in my age group (Male 45-49). After finishing I ran back to cheer on Megan and ran the last half mile in with her as she captured 1st in her age group (Female 14 and under)!
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| It's always nice to bring home hardware! |
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| Megan got a BIGGER trophy! |
Afterwards we enjoyed the post race pancake breakfast (the best part of Amboy!) and chatted with other Kokomo Road Runners as the awards were handed out. It was great to share this experience with my daughter and also break the 5K BPR I had just set back in January on the trail run (Night Flight 5K). As the month progressed we had a couple more snows but God always provided enough sunny and dry days in between that I was still able to get in several good training sessions. I was able to run 4 or 5 days each week in March even though a few runs were on wet pavement. On March 5th, I completed my longest run of the year so far at just over 11miles, followed by a couple of 8 mile runs later in the month.
I finished out the month with yet another BPR at the Westfield Underground RR 5K on March 23rd. This race commemorates the fact that Westfield IN was once a stop on the infamous Underground RR network back in the days of the civil war. This race is run on city streets with about 3/4 mile on the trail in Asa Bales Park near the end. While there were a couple of rough patches, this course is much smoother than the Amboy course and as a result much faster for us barefooters. I started near the back of the pack (maybe too far back!) but enjoy passing the other runners early on, and actually continued to pass runners the entire way. The last quarter mile or so was very interesting as I passed one individual who turned out to be a podiatrist. He kept surging and trying to re-pass me as we neared the tape but I had plenty left in the tank and kept turning it on to fend him off. Afterwards we laughed about it and he told me he just HAD to pass me since he was a podiatrist and I was barefoot! I thanked him for speeding me up...turns out (according to my Garmin) that I ran the last 0.1 mile at a pace of 5:26min/mile!
Overall, this was again a BPR of 23:40 at a 7:38 Pace which was good enough for 64th out of 429 participants and 4th in my age group. Since they only went 3 deep in the trophies I finished just out of the hardware, although the runner just ahead (my friend Bill Kirsch) and just behind (my new podiatrist friend Dave) both recieved hardware in their age groups!
After another nice snowstorm (10.5 inches!) and some sunny days immediately after, I got in several nice long runs for the week, just in time to head south for Spring Break with the family. This year's plan has us stopping in Maggie Valley NC to visit my pastor friend Laura Jones and then heading over to my sister Jill's house in North Myrtle Beach. Hopefully the weather will continue to improve and we'll get in some beach time with the kids. And hopefully a few early morning runs on the beach which will be a big change from the Indiana snow!Enjoy the warmer Spring temps!
Barefoot Dan
March Mileage = 106 (New Monthly Barefoot High Total)
Week 1 (partial)= 4, Week 2 = 35, Week 3 = 21, Week 4 = 20, Week 5 = 26
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