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| Team World Vision (partial) at the Starting Line |
November has been a good "resting" month after my two recent marathons. I definitely needed the rest since the two marathons were only about 3 weeks apart and both banged me up pretty good. The Indy Monumental Marathon was on Nov. 5 and was run along with my World Vision Team from Christ UMC Westfield. I was blessed to raised $2000 for this event which will help to provide clean water to 40 people in Africa next year. A big "THANK YOU" to all of my donors and those who prayed for our team during this event. Our team celebrated the event afterwards, with food of course! And we are so energized we've already signed up to do it again next year as a team!
The weather for race day was perfect with temps in the upper 30's and lower 40's at the start. As you know, it's best to be a little cold at the start so that once you get going and the blood start flowing, it turns out to be just right. The first few miles I maintained my 8:30 (or so) pace and kept it up until we split off from the half marathoners. This, in hindsight, turned out to be WAY too fast. Once the course got north of the Indy fairgrounds the pavement turned rougher and my pace began to slow. It was at this point I suddenly remembered what I said when I ran this 4 years ago: "I'll never run this barefoot again!...Indy doesn't know how to pave streets!" and yet I must have forgotten this!
The last half of the race I slowed considerably and was actually glad I didn't need a "Sub 4" for this race because I don't think I could have done it. The pavement leading up to Burdsal Parkway hadn't been touched in 4 years and was absolutely crumbling...I kept running (in my mind) but I'm sure any bystanders might have thought I was walking! 
I did pick up the pace at the end and got back to a reasonable looking gait. During the last mile of the race WRTV reporter Mary Milz came running along side and sort of "interviewed" me about running barefoot. I gave her some basic info about barefoot marathoning and she said to send her an email and we would talk more (I sent her the email, but no response yet!) Once I rounded the last corner and could see the finish line I went blowing by Mary and about 50 other runners in that last quarter mile...it felt so good to go from an 11:00 min/mile pace to a 7:18 min/mile pace knowing the end was near! |
| Yay! Finish Line! |
I staggered across the line and went immediately to the baggage area where I knew my checked bag (with Flip Flops) would be waiting...ahhhh, relief! After a few minutes recovering I made my way back to the Team World Vision tent where our regional team leader Alyssa welcomed me in to the smell of pizza. Even better, I got a hug and kiss from our local team leader (my wife Linda) who had just completed her half marathon and was waiting along with the rest of our team. Then of course, after finishing the pizza, we went out for breakfast at Lincoln Square! ---Eat to run or run to eat...your choice!
This was my 80th marathon and my 8th barefoot marathon so all in all, a pretty good milestone. I came in 2177th overall at 4:15 even (again, happy to not need the sub 4). The rest of the month I have pretty much taken it easy, although the middle week I did get in almost 40 miles and enjoyed the first slightly snowy run on Nov. 19th. Since then I've been nursing a bit of TOFP (Top Of Foot Pain), which you barefooters know is usually very bad news. However, this seems to sort of be a phantom pain which is moving around a little so I am not overly alarmed at this point. Still, it is good to be able to just run "a little bit" each day and not overdo the miles, as I continue to recover from these two relatively rough marathons.
I'm getting psyched for my upcoming Disney Marathon in about 5 weeks and will really enjoy finally finishing off the 50 Sub 4 quest if successful. This will mean that the last 5 states (some of the hardest) were repeated to not only get the times under 4 hours, but also to do them barefoot. I'll be ready for a good long rest after that!
Enjoy the holidays!
Barefoot Dan
November Mileage = 108.5 miles
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