November was a cold one...but 2000 miles acheived

Yes, November was a cold one

Hello Barefooters,

Snowy 6 Mile Run on Nov. 19

I hope you all survived your November.  It seemed to get a lot colder a lot faster this year so hopefully you are already well ahead on your running distance goals for the year.  I hit my 2000 mile mark already (on November 17) so now I can just continue to pad my total...although if the cold weather keeps it up, I may not pad it by much!

Cold Indy Monumental Half Marathon

I started off the month by running the Indy Monumental Half Marathon with my team from Christ UMC Westfield, "The Running Angels."  We raised a lot of money for clean water in Africa and had a lot of fun doing it.  It was a cold morning and I really should have been able to run faster but for whatever reason, I just didn't have another BPR (Barefoot Personal Record) in me this year.  The cold weather seemed to only affect me while waiting around at the start, but once I got going the feet were fine.  I "borrowed" a guys sweatshirt he was throwing away at the start line and stood on it instead of the 35degree pavement for the last 5 minutes before the gun went off. 

"Sprint" to the Finish!

I quickly got into my pace for the first few miles but then everything started to ache and the pavement seemed MUCH rougher than year's past, especially the last 6 miles or so.  As a result I actually finished well of my BPR pace by about 7 minutes but still ended up with a halfway respectable time of 1:50 for the half.  We enjoyed the warm World Vision tent at the end as well as an annual tradition of post race brunch in Westfield.

The rest of the month was pretty cold as well and I spent most of it in Indiana.  However, I did have a business trip to Livonia, MI this past week and got to enjoy some snowy weather up there.  I just "slugged out" and ran on the hotel treadmill all 4 days in Michigan instead of braving the cold, but then did a nice 5 miler outside today back here in Indiana at a comparatively balmy 39 degrees.

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving right here at home this year and didn't travel too far other than to downtown Indy to watch the lighting of the tree (first time I've done that since I was about 10 years old).  Everyone stay safe out there and enjoy the Holiday Season with family and friends.


God Bless,


Barefoot Dan
(November Mileage = 128miles)

Brrr...Winter is Coming

Hello Barefooters,

The leaves are turning and starting to fall...


Before you know it the snow will be flying...yuck.




On Broadway!

Well, let's hope not but it looks like the last of the good weather is behind us for a while.  This bone chilling rain today looks like the start of a long winter.  I've been getting some pretty good longer runs in this month even though it started turning colder.  As always, its the moisture that determines how cold of weather we barefooters can run in...and so far, not so bad.

 

Barefoot in Central Park

Every week this month I was able to run a 40 or 50 mile week so I was able to keep the higher average going.  I started off the month out in New York City with my daughter Megan on some college visits.  We enjoyed the city and went to her three favorite fashion colleges while there.  We ate some really good food and even got to enjoy a Broadway Show (Phantom of the Opera).  I ran each morning and actually ran all the way to Central Park one morning and witnessed the setting up for a 10K race later in the day.

The following week I went to Fargo North Dakota and it snowed while I was there so I opted for an 8 mile workout on the hotel treadmill (dreadmill!)  Back in Indiana the weather continued to hold out a little while longer so I continued my longer runs all the way into Westfield each morning and got to keep using the Midland Trace Trail as well.


This weekend will be our long anticipated Indy Monumental Half Marathon Race with my team from Christ UMC, "The Running Angels."  We have 12 people on the team and are looking forward to a nice race on Saturday.  I'm hoping for dry weather since it looks like temps will be down in the 30's.


Oh well, keep running out there and enjoy the Fall,


God Bless,


Barefoot Dan
(October Mileage = 225.81miles)