333 Miles - Biggest Barefoot Month Ever

Hello Barefooters,

Rachel's new kitty friend from Red Bird

I am really enjoying my summer and getting in some great daily long runs.  I've been travelling quite a bit (more than I like) but have been fortunate to still get in my morning run no matter where I lay my head.  The month started out down in Kentucky at the Red Bird Mission in Beverly.  This was our church's third trip down here and this one didn't disappoint.  We had 20 missionaries from our church (including my entire family) and we divided ourselves up into two different teams.  The first team worked on campus to complete a deck on the girl's dormitory while the off campus team worked at the home of a local woman, Stella Wagers, and completed a plumbing project and a flu pipe installation (with hook up of a wood fired cook stove).  Stella blessed us all week long with her sense of humor and "Mountain Wisdom" and she was very grateful for the work we did.  As with most mission trips, the blessings go both ways!

Team Signing of New Red Bird Trailer

This year was especially nice for running, since the county paving crew was finishing up putting down brand new asphalt on the main road leading to and from Red Bird.  On Monday, I ran the two newest miles of fresh pavement (still warm!) and got in a 5 miler to start the week.  I increased my miles each day (as they increased the length of the new pavement and by the end of the week, they had the entire Clay County portion paved (7 miles) and I had turned in 62 miles, culminating with a 16 miler the day we headed back to Indiana.

The next week I stayed in Indiana the whole time and even with the rainy weather, got in 13+ miles each day.  This turned into my biggest week of the year so far at 81 miles...not to shabby.  I wasn't really planning to run my biggest month ever but did start to ponder the hows (and whys!)  I was sort of nursing my left Achilles by the end of the week so I decided to "take it easy" the next week.

Lutes Family Back Home in IN on July 4

The following week I also stayed in Indiana and the weather started to dry up a bit.  I "only" ran 72 miles after going a little shorter on Mon and Tues with a 11 and 10 miler those days (now relatively short distances!)  I finished the week with 12s and 13s and on Saturday was actually shooting for a 16miler when I went up a hill and felt a twang of pain in my left groin muscle...it almost brought me to a walk...and I immediately turned around and limped the 1 mile back home, feeling lucky that I was that close to home.  I sort of attributed this groin pull to the overcompensation of the recovering Achilles on the same leg. 

The nice thing about barefoot running is the short duration of injuries.  I mean even after each of these otherwise "devastating" injuries to my Achilles and groin muscle, I took only one day off (the Sunday I would have taken anyway) and then ran a shortened recovery run, first one 11 and the second one 7, but not necessarily short by most people's standards.  I feel that this is because I seem to be more in tune with my body and can tell what my limits are better when barefoot than when wearing foot coffins (er, shoes!)

The next week had me out in Temecula CA for training for work.  I stayed in my usual hotel and did multiple laps each day in the industrial park where my company is located.  All these runs were done with the headlamp each day so that I could still get to the office on time.  I got in an 11, 8, and 13 mile run that week in CA with the last one being particularly challenging timewise...I had a 6:25am flight from San Diego so got up at midnight to do my 13 miler, so I still had time to drive from Temecula to the airport...it helped with the jet lag on the other end since I normally get up at 3am anyway (which is midnight in CA!)

Steel Fragment from I-275 Metro Trail
Thanks Detroit!!

This past week had me up in Michigan, both Livonia for training and St. Joe for a customer visit.  I continued the long run streak each day with a 12 or 13 miler each morning.  On Tuesday morning I added another FBO (Foreign Body Object) to my list of "things I've pulled out of my foot" with a particularly nasty piece of sharp rusty steel picked up on the I-275 Metro Trail.  The Metro Trail is nice because there are no cars, but it does have some debris which is definitely the downside.  I only run on it for about a mile and a quarter until I reach the Mahle parking lot which offers a nice half mile loop on freshly sealed pavement.  This steel was picked up witin the first mile of my run so I definitely felt blessed to still be able to continue on and finish my 13 miler for the day.

The next couple of days were over in St. Joe.  This time I didn't venture down to the beachfront but carved out a nice 2 mile loop from the hotel, using the smooth Whirlpool parking lots and the nice white stripe on the edge of Lakeshore Drive returning to the hotel.  I was able to get in a couple of 12 milers and run without much traffic as long as I ended by 6am when the Lakeshore commuters take over the road.

This morning back in Indiana I ran my shortest run of the week of 11.72 miles to finish the month of July with exactly 333.33miles which beats my previous record of 281 by over 50 miles!  This was a solid month of 60, 70 and 80 miles weeks with a daily average of 12.3 miles not counting my Sundays off.  Who would have ever thought this could be done without shoes!

I definitely feel blessed to have this amazing body God gave me...a body which continues to heal and strengthen the more it is used.  He definitely knew what He was doing when He made the human body...what an amazing system of muscles, tendons, bones and ligaments...no man-made design even comes close!! 

KEEP RUNNING!

Barefoot Dan

July Mileage = 333.33 miles
(new all-time record, with or without shoes)