Naked Foot 5k Race Report

Naked Foot 5K
The race wasn't scheduled to start until 9AM, so we were able to get up at our regular time, which is always nicer than having to get up at the butt crack of dawn!  I had my normal pre-race breakfast, a bagel with peanut butter and honey, then we loaded up the boys in the car and headed to the race site.  There was a 1K kids fun run at 8:30, and my oldest was really excited about doing it, but he wanted one of us to run with him.  My youngest has been really sick this past week, hence the lack of blogging, so he couldn't really run.  The plan was to have my husband run with my oldest while I hung out with our youngest.  Well, we had never been to the park where the race was before, so it took us a little longer to get there then expected.  We pulled up as all the kids were getting lined up for the race.  I really didn't want my son to miss it, so as soon as we parked, I grabbed his hand and ran to the start just as they blew the whistle.  There were only about 4 other kids running, so it was pretty fun.  My son loved it and towards the end, I asked him if he wanted to sprint to the finish by himself and he said yes!  So, I stopped and watched him finish strong!  It was awesome!  He ran the entire way and I am so proud of him!

I know he looks a little grumpy in this picture, but he was pretty much laughing the entire time!

Rehydrating after his race! :)









As soon as the kid's race was done, I went to the packet pick-up table to get my stuff.  They informed me that they no longer had my size small shirt (why does this always happen??), so once again, my husband got a new shirt.

There were no numbered bibs or timing chips.  In fact, they wrote our race number on our calf.  The race director made a statement about how he wanted the majority of the money to go to Soles4Souls, so he skipped the frills that other races have.  It was actually really nice to race at such a small venue.  I think there were maybe a total of 50 people running, and I am pretty sure I was the only one with a Garmin.  Ha ha!  It was so laid back, and just a nice change from the bigger 5Ks that we usually do.  I was also surprised at just how many people were barefoot.  If I had to guess, I would say 85% of the racers were barefoot, while the others had some type of Vibram Five Fingers on.  Several people came up to me and asked me about my Bikilas and how I liked them.  Everyone chatted with each other and talked about how long they had been running "barefoot."  The race just had a really cool vibe to it.

Before the race.  Notice the guys behind me without any shoes on?













Pretty soon it was time to line up.  I was going to give my long sleeve shirt to my husband, but I forgot, so I ended up wearing it during the race.  Ugh!  The director counted down and we were off.  I don't know if any of you have ever ran in a small race before, but it was awesome!  There was so much room to run!  The coolest thing about the race though was how quiet it was.  Because everyone was either barefoot or running with VFFs, the only sound you could hear were people breathing.  It was kind of surreal.  It really is just you and the ground beneath your feet.

The course was a mixture of grass and paved trails.  At one point, we ran across a soccer field while the sprinklers were going.  Running through the water was fun and made me think about how much my boys love to run in the grass, barefoot, through the sprinklers. :)
I was surprised at how effortless my running felt.  It felt awesome to run in my Bikilas and I found myself running a sub 8 pace pretty comfortably.  Before I knew it, I was almost to the finish.  The last 1/4M was a straight paved trail right to the finish.  I decided to kick it in and finish strong!  I saw my husband and boys on the side cheering me on and I waved to them as I passed.  It was great!  My husband took this action shot of my heading to the finish.

I crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin and was completely shocked to see the time!  I ran the 5k in 22:40, which was a 7:27min/mile pace.  This time is 1 second slower than my 5k PR (22:39)!  I couldn't believe it!  But, truthfully, I think I could have gone faster.  I ran this race for fun, and for an opportunity to be part of the first "barefoot" running race in CO.  As strange as this may sound, when I was running, I was seriously not even thinking about "racing."  I didn't feel like I pushed myself, which I wasn't really trying to do anyways.  But, now my mind is spinning wondering just how fast I could have gone-ya know?  It's exciting for me and I honestly can't wait to do another one!