Leading up to the race I had really pushed myself to get in top shape. I made sure that I ran a good number of long runs and achieved a level of fitness and weekly running that was far ahead of any other year. I am averaging 25-30 miles a week with long runs in the 12-16 mile range. I am in shape. About 50% or more of my running is barefoot and the rest is minimal footwear like VFF’s or Huaraches. I am finally over that hump of 6 miles being the max I could run without shoes. The weekend prior to the A10, I ran 12 miles barefoot on some pretty nasty roads and sidewalks. I was ready for my first official race barefoot. The week leading up to the race I started a nice taper. Sunday was the 12 mile barefoot long run, Tuesday I ran a nice fast 6 miles barefoot and Friday I ran 2 miles at a very relaxed pace. Nothing could stop me.

The night before the race I was very jittery. This taper crap has got to go. I was like a heroin junkie in need of a fix. That is a pretty scary analogy but I think it is accurate. I needed to run. I also knew I needed to get some good sleep since morning would come early and I had to be up at 4AM to head out. My habit is to go to sleep at midnight so I ate some spinach and cheese ravioli fought sleeping and it was nighty night at 9PM.  All is well; I slept right up to the alarm at 4AM.

For breakfast I wolfed down several cups of coffee, some Gatorade, an apple fritter and headed out the door. I picked up my running buddy and we headed to Annapolis. I was so excited. I had butterflies and was feeling the pre-race (adrenalin) jitters. Oh, and maybe some jitters from the coffee. We arrived about an hour before gun so we hurried over, grabbed our numbers and I was impressed how quickly the process flowed. It only took me about 2 minutes to get my number and head back to the car. My buddy beat me by a good minute. This was easy. The A10 staff has this race down to a science, it is a well-oiled machine

Well, it’s almost gun time and I am standing in the masses with no shoes on my feet, two Gu’s in my gut and I am bopping around like a speed freak. Let’s get this show on the road. As I am standing there I looked around and there was one guy wearing VFF’s and another kid wearing, what looked like, Invisible Shoes Huaraches. I tapped the kid on the shoulder and gave him a fist bump. He wasn’t sure why then he looked at my feet and said “Right on dude”. Another guy noticed my bare feet and said “Hard Core”. That was about the time the girls tapped me on the shoulder and one of them said “That is totally sexy” as she pointed at my feet. OK, I was a convert to Barefoot but now I am sold. It’s Sexy!

The temperature was a decent 74 degrees, there was a slight fog or haze and I could tell in about an hour it was going to be hot, real hot and humid, REAL humid. I was right and it turned out to be a scorcher. After the race the temps flew into the mid 90’s.

The Annapolis 10 Miler 2010

7:45 AM and the gun went off, and I wasn’t moving. You could see the crowd sort of shuffling up ahead but even after 3 minutes, we were only at a walk. Then it started, we were running and we crossed the mat. I reached to my Garmin 305, pressed the button and the race was on. I was finally running after a miserably long week.  As we left the stadium, it opened up enough that I could start passing a few people and get a pace going. We had been standing in the crowd for about 45 minutes and suddenly I realized I had to pee. Crap, that doesn’t work. My buddy was right behind me and another friend said he had to go too so all three of us along with about 30 new friends hit some bushes. Back on the road, we started passing through the crowd and making pace when I realized I was blasting the best pace of my life and I wasn’t even feeling winded. Allan, my friend, started making comments how much I had improved, How great my form looked and even joked that he might not be able to keep up with me. I know he was joking about not keeping up with me but the complements felt great, I felt strong.

At mile one, we were screaming and broke out on the main road. The map below is a little old, 2003 I believe, they have slightly changed the course and the 1 mile point is at the intersection of Rowe Blvd and Melvin. It was a slight downhill all the way to downtown Annapolis and the pace quickened. I dropped into a groove, was running around an 8 minute pace and just let my head take in the beautiful morning, the great scenery and the sound of everyone talking about the crazy dude running barefoot. Yes, there was constant chatter behind me. Some thought it was cool, some thought it was stupid or foolish but most were simply amazed and impressed. It was a great feeling and a good morning for a narcissist LOL.

Map of the Annapolis 10 Miler

As we entered downtown Annapolis, the curbs were crammed with people; they were cheering, shouting words of encouragement, giving us high fives and are a great bunch of spectators. The Annapolis 10 miler or A10 as it is affectionately called, is ranked as one of the top ten 10 Milers in the country and I think the spectators probably have something to do with this. They love the race as much as the participants. Running on the brick and Cobblestone roads was a great experience barefoot. I highly recommend that surface. It feels good, keeps you sharp and is just plain cool. People all through the town were shouting and pointing at my lack of shoes.

As we made the turn downtown towards the Navy base and Mile 3 there was a water station. I always thought they were every two miles but I guess they just put them where they are convenient. Anyway, I remember running through the station and slipping on a paper cup. I made a strange move and was able to keep my balance and continue on. There was no pain and I reminded myself to be more careful. I grabbed water and on I went. As I turned the corner towards the bridge, I remember noticing a strange and dull ache in the area of my Achilles and thinking to me, that doesn’t feel right, now isn’t the time to have a problem. I continued on focusing at the matter at hand, the bridge. This bridge is the nastiest bridge on the planet. Luckily it doesn’t happen until mile four so you are good and warm and not tired. Last year I walked up the bridge, this year I ate it like it was gummy bears. I blew up that bridge with a fever and did so to the cheers of many spectators and people all around me. I remember one guy said to another, now that is how to run, barefoot and free. I smiled to myself. That is exactly what it was; FREE!

Now I headed down the back side of the bridge and that nagging pain was on and off. It wasn’t bad but I knew it didn’t feel right. I look the right turn and into the neighborhoods I went and again was faced with a monster hill and the mile five marker; I blew up the hill like I was on fire and I was Half way there.

Once in the neighborhoods is where the Annapolis 10 miler gets its charm. The people are AWESOME with a capital “A”. They have sprinklers going to cool you off and many yards are playing music, handing out water and one group must have 3000 oranges they cut up and hand out. I doubt they get funded for this; it is just the good people of the town. At first I thought, Oh no, I don’t want to get my feet wet and take a chance tearing up the bottom of my feet then I realized that I was there to have fun and I, like the rest would blow through the sprinklers and get a refreshing cool down. Suddenly my ankle started to hurt worse, it went from a dull ache on and off, more off, to a stab every time I stepped. I dropped down into my knees, leaned forward and focused on form, I went from smiling an joyful to very focused and serious; I knew I was in trouble.

Mile six marker came and I stopped to walk. This is an intersection and some lady was yelling, run right through, here is your 30 feet of flat road. Man was she right, this race is either uphill or downhill except that 30 feet of road and she wasn’t going to let anyone forget it. Walking was much better, the pain would go right away and I rested the foot, gave it some gentle stretches and started a slow methodic pace. I knew the PR was gone and now I had about a half mile to decide, do I DNF the race and walk back at the 7.5 mile bailout or to I run it to the end and take whatever time I take. Even when I was walking, people were cheering for me, “Hey, you can do it”, “you’re barefoot and the only one so far, you have it licked”. Nothing but positive, it gave me strength and I passed the bailout point to the Richie Highway and pressed on to the seven mile turnaround. I think that was a big mistake because when I made that choice, I could walk and there wasn’t pain. By the time I hit the right turn towards the Richie Highway on the second pass, pain was no longer an option, it was a constant reality. I was in trouble.

Running had become a science, how could I land on my feet and cause the least amount of pain. It was simple, perfect flat foot landing, no pronation, no fore or heel strike. I bent my knees until the thighs burned like a fire from hell, I favored the right leg as much as I could yet not damage the left and I pressed on. As I hit the Richie Highway I was running again at about a 12 min/mile pace; slow, but I was running. I was almost ready to bail and that was when the angel shown up.

She said her name was Jules and she started asking me all about barefoot running, she wanted to know everything, how long, did I use those funny toe shoes ever, that would be the Vibram Five Finger shoes or VFF’s, she was very cute and reminded me of my daughter, it was great, she kept my mind off the foot and kept me talking. There are two miracles here, the first is that I was at mile eight and was talking to someone and not out of breath, I was running, albeit not pretty, but I was running and I wasn’t trashed. Last year I would have been is much worse shape physically. Second this girl was able to keep my mind off the pain when I needed help the most. She ran with me all the way to the bridge and at the bridge I had to stop and walk, running uphill had become virtually impossible now. Thanks Jules, wherever you are. You were a life saver.

Just before the bridge there were a bunch of photographers and I figured they were the ones taking the race shots. The first group must have caught me when I wasn’t paying attention as I hit the Richie Highway; I look like I wasn’t having a lot of fun. I remember thinking the right foot was hurting, it is causing me to kill the left foot and the white line was feeling really good. Then I saw the camera and it was too late. At least I wasn’t heel striking like that poor woman behind me, Ouch!

See, I was Running Barefoot - About 8 Miles

Then I saw the photographer right at the bridge aiming at me, I gave a little smile, hid the grimace and gave him a couple of Hang Loose’s, heard the camera click and thought cool, a great shot, he cut out my feet! Damn it!

Hang Loose

When I hit the bridge there were quite a few people standing on the bridge cheering us on and offering encouragement and I had to walk? Being on that bridge now was a very hot place. It was completely exposed, almost no wind and approaching 90 degrees I’d guess in the sun. I almost felt like I was letting them down. All the effort they made to sit in that Miserable hot sun for us. As I hit the 9 mile mark on the down side of the bridge I decided it was time to run. I sucked it up and started a slow methodical plodding towards the stadium. I was missing my earlier company and mental obstruction from the pain when another woman approached me, made a comment about me not wearing shoes and asked if I live in Germantown. I told her I did and she said she sees me running up and down MD118 barefoot and really admires me for being able to do that. We chatted for a bit but I knew she wanted to speed up and I said if you ever see me again, Honk and wave. See you at the finish line, this seemed to give her permission to speed off and finish her race.

The last half mile was really a blur. I was so happy that I was going to make it and not come in last, and I knew I could crawl to the finish line if I had to, I could see the turn up the hill, onto the grass and over the mat. The goal was in sight and I was almost there. The final 200 yards is a long uphill run to the finish line which was also the starting line. You leave the road and onto a grass and cement sidewalk area and then into the parking lot, the same stretch of parking lot that, 1:48 minutes ago, I said I had to pee as I ran out. Both sides of the path were lined with onlookers and they cheered as if we, I, was the first place runner, it was loud, it was crazy and I went into a final sprint to the line. I heard people chanting Barefoot and making comments and I looked up, there was only 20 yards to go, 10 yards, soft rubber mat and a beep. Final time recorded and I stopped the Garmin and turned it off. I didn’t want to know my time. I was happy to cross and I was done.

Done, Not pretty but Done!

I grabbed a giveaway towel, another cool gift from the A10 and threw it over my head. I grabbed a Gatorade and started drinking and realized I was in serious pain and getting nauseated. Up until now the running and moving kept my mind off my stomach yet the pain was making me nauseous. I walked to the parking lot and stood. I found that if I didn’t move the pain went away. I stood there for twenty minutes, enjoying no pain. Then I had to move.

I walked over to the food and celebration area, there were thousands of people and I was looking for three. My running buddy Allan must have come in 15-20 minutes ahead of me and my wife and Allan’s wife were at the finish line cheering but on the other side of the fence. Finding anyone meant I could get the heck out of dodge, sit down, take some Advil and eat. I was hungry and needed to sit. I grabbed a banana, a bottle of water and found the wives. Sweet, that was easy. I wanted to hang around but was getting sorer by the minute so I told them I was heading to the truck so I could wash up, change and get ready to leave. That was the last time I wandered over to the tents. I waited for everyone and we left. Race Over.

A couple of hind sites; the race is an awesome race, if you ever have the chance to run the Annapolis 10 miler, I highly suggest doing so. It is awesome, the organization is out of this world and the people in the town are super friendly. Another, I think the ego of finishing may have turned an otherwise annoying injury into a longer term injury. That hour of pressing on probably costs me weeks if not months of running. In the future I might not be so inclined to press on and instead listen to my body and stop. Running this thing barefoot was a goal and although the injury probably had nothing to do with barefoot, I wanted to finish proving to myself and others that I could. And I did!

The barefoot part of the run went off without a hitch, I was having the greatest run, at 1 mile we were just over an 8 minute pace, mile 2 was the same story, my running partners were amazed how strong I was and so was I. it was like I was turbo charged.

Someplace around mile 4 I came into a water station and turned to avoid someone that stopped and slipped on a cup. as I slipped I remember thinking, “that don’t feel right” but there was no pain and on I went. around mile 6 I started feeling some ankle pain and was still cruising to completely blow away my PR but the pain was starting to nag and I slowed down a bit, dropped a little lower in my knees to take a load off the ankles and pressed on.

By the time I hit 7 miles I was walking and in serious pain. this is an out and back so back was the only way out. I considered a DNF and getting a ride but I couldn’t do it, I started running and really working on whatever form took away the pain. I remember thinking at one point there was only 2 miles left, anyone can run/walk 2 miles. Then came the Severn River bridge. I stopped running and walked about 3/4 mile over the bridge. On the other side of the bridge I hit the 9 mile mark and started running again, at first it was excruciating, I really wondered why I was doing this but then it started to feel better, probably dopamine’s kicking in. I ran walk that last mile and was able to pull out a semi sprint to the line with throngs of people cheering about me being Barefoot.
That was the race, there were lots of great moments, funny comments and good people that I talked with while running and walking. As far as I know, and from what several spectators told me, I was the only barefoot runner so I figure I finished first in my class

As for the foot, it isn’t in good shape, something is drastically wrong. Sitting here is OK but walking is out. The pain is inside and outside right behind the ankle bones. It doesn’t feel like the Achilles and there is no palpable pain in the Achilles however pressing either side behind the ankle will bring me to tears. Probably going to need an x-ray and an MRI to figure out this mess

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I went to REI and purchased some 3mm, 4mm and 5 mm cord. The cost was around $0.35 per foot and later I found that I could get that at 1/2 price at The Trail House in Frederick, MD so shop around. I settled for now on 4 mm but may experiment later with the 5mm. 3mm seems marginal as a thickness and might cut into the toes.

The first thing I noticed was the knot between the toes was way too large and making it small enough was going to be a challenge so I came up with this method that seems to work well. After a few days of wearing the Huaraches. The pain between the toes is greatly relieved and there is no cutting feeling.

Starting with 6 feet of cord, more than enough for any style tying, the first step was to cut the line and lightly melt both ends. One end I melted to a point to assist threading into the sandal. The other end just a slight melt so I could pull out the center cord material from the nylon sheath.

WARNING: Be careful and if you can’t be careful, have an adult help you, even if you are over 18 and think you are an adult but don’t act like one. Hot nylon sticks to your fingers and will cause burns! You have been warned.

Lightly melt end of cord using a lighter, stove or other method – See warning above.

Pull back the nylon cord sheath and expose about 2-3 inches of inner twisted cord.

Cut away 2-3 inches of inner cord and melt the end to stop fraying

Melted end of white inner layer of cord after cutting

Pull the outer nylon sheath out over there the inner cord used to be. Make sure you grab the cord up a foot or so and slide your fingers as you pinch the line, towards the modified end. Grab the slightly limp modified cord end and give it a good tug so all the outer sheath is pulled tight. Melt the end of the outer sheath.

Now tie a figure 8 not in the modified narrow end of the line. This will create a large enough knot that it won’t slip through the Huaraches sole yet will be small enough to not be felt when wearing the huarache. I then gave the entire knot a little heat and melted it slightly. Probably not a necessary step. Once the inner cord material is removed, the knot in the outer material is very tight and won’t come untied.

The Final product. I am satisfied with how they feel show here tied in the slip on fashion.

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After my EKG he walked in with a rather somber face and asked if I was getting Dizzy, Passing Out, Chest Pain, Nausea or any other strange symptoms. I said no and he said well your either in really great health or have something seriously wrong with your heart cause I only see this when people are dying. My heart rate on the EKG was 40 BPM. I told him that was normal and he thought it was awesome.

As I left I said, “Well, I suppose I am not dying” he laughed and said no, see you in a year.