My KSOs are too big. WAY too big but I’ve loved them the entire year I’ve been running in them anyway.
The major disadvantage is when I”m running in wet/muddy conditions. Then the feet start to slip around on the inside a lot. Sunday run was fun regardless!
Aprox 1,600 feet up Tiger Mtn looking down
Elevation gain and loss – 2,000 feet
It started with a nice VFF run around the neighborhood with a combo of sidewalk, road, and trail. I then moved up into my normal trail where I live. It so happens that there was a 12 hr race in progress!
I ran into a friend who was running the 12 hr and decided she was on her last lap for the day (lap = 5 miles)… and lo-an-belold – she was barefoot!
She left her shoes and Vibrams in her car and committed to the last loop of 5 trail miles barefoot. So I joined her in solidarity by taking off my KSOs and finishing up the loop with her.
Lots of little rocks, great pine, soft dirt, mud with roots, big stepping stones. It was all great times. (OK those little rocks kind of bite big time).
Nice to visit with my friend and run BF together on the trial – LOTs of comments from the other runners. None negative. Maybe because my friend is a well-known ultra runner & chi-running instructor in the community!
Once we got to the end I ran home barefoot up the street.
No blood on my feet so I call it a success!
Best BF pace: 08:31. Total miles = 4.11 total time = 1hr ish
oh yes I had already run 6 miles in the Vibrams before running BF with my friend.
My husband and I work in the same area. Yesterday was a day off for me and I planned my run as a “run home from work” event. Woke up to crazy snow-covered ground but I put the FiveFingers on anyway, rode into work with the spouse and proceeded to make my way back home.
The run was fantastic. Combo of street, sidewalk, paved trail, against the daily-grind-commute traffic and after making it 7.8 miles I have THIS to conquer!
Running up that area I encountered large areas of water & mud that I couldn’t go around.
So of course my VFFs got nice & muddy. Check out the Flickr! photos on the right if you’re interested.
Overall elevation gain = 588
Yesterday I went out for (what supposed to be) a short run before work. With my new job I don’t start until 12pm so I can be lazy about getting out later in the morning.
I ran around the neighborhood and veered off onto a trail – which I then took an obvious detour to a really NON-trail. Once I figured I was veering into “I’m going to be lost” territory I couldn’t turn around because a HUGE dog was chasing me and doing his duty of keeping me off his master’s property.
So I continued on this non-trail path and ended up in a marsh. I mucked through the mud and bog, crawled over a beaver dam and eventually made it to a stream to wash off my feet/VFFs/legs and continue on. (side note – that was SO MUCH FUN!)
With my trusty GPS watch tracking my movements, I knew I was over 3.25 miles away from home. I had no idea where the dirt road would take me but I took the left fork anyway.
The FIRST building I came upon out of the clearing?
This is an LDS church-my parents religion
With a “Thanks Mom!” I got my bearings and continued running home.
Figures Mom would direct me out of a bog and drop me off on the church doorstep, eh? She’s been trying to get me back to church for over 20 years and just because she’s passed doesn’t mean she’ll stop now!
Yesterday we said fare-thee-well to February with a mud run. It was so much fun! We ran on a very narrow trail that is used a lot for mtn. bikers (but open to everyone).
Today March 1st I start a new job. With that comes a new schedule that will open up my time to run more and allow me to focus on my family.
This month is looking up to be the best of the year so far! That’s not really hard to do for this year, however.
Here’s to running!
Sunday I ran around the West Watershed loop three times with my running partner. We met a mile out, ran to the parking lot… ran our three loops and then ran back where we met at the end.
The elevation is up & down and actually quite fun. Very different from our normal, mostly flat, out & backs at the Park.
I’m standing at the top of a different hill on this shot. I actually can’t access the trail ahead immediately from this spot – have to go around another mile to get there.
trail loop
This weekend I’m volunteering for a Trail marathon to be held here. I saw a lot of runners ‘practicing’ for the marathon on Sunday.
Exciting times!
This afternoon I meant to run about three to four miles. I don’t need my CamelBak for that short of distance so I filled my 22oz bottle of water not all the way full, wrapped a bandanna around my hand+bottle since I don’t have a fancy hand-held bottle at this time… and was off!
As I ran down the power-line trail, I decided to stay on it instead of veering off onto the running / horseback trail. Turns out I ran farther down the power-line road than I ever had before. And by down I really mean down steep!
By the time I reached the bottom of the power-line trail (mile 2) I figured I’d just keep going instead of turning back up. Although I enjoy running in my KSOs, I can only take so much limestone gravel at a time.
Miles 3 through 6 were a mix of street and sidewalk running. I was very pleased with my progress during mile 5-6, as I stayed a pretty consistent pace during the ascent.
down & up
I found the North trail entrance at mile 6. It was pleasant to duck back into the trees away from cars for the rest of my run. I encountered one other person… she looked like a runner who was walking a puppy off-leash on the trail. I don’t have a problem with that, but I feel like I should have reminded her this is a Bear, Cougar & Mtn Lion wildlife preserve. That puppy was so dang cute and definitely snack sized!
Throughout the run I would sip every so often on my water bottle, thinking how I’ve relied on my CamelBak for so long. I do like it – but maybe I should up the requirements of needing it on “long” runs. Nine miles used to be long… now my definition is more like 13? We’ll see.
On a VFF / KSO note: Since I thought I was going to run short, once again I failed to wear my Injinji socks. My KSOs are a size too big. Reason = I tried them on the day I ran 20 miles for the first time. Felt like I was getting a nice massage on my feet. mmmmm.
In the end, a couple new blisters showed up from the rubbing. I felt them starting up at mile 4. Maybe it’s a mental thing… ‘Mile 4’ being the magic “I need my socks!” number.
Good news is that the blisters have already gone down since I drained them (the safe way – I’m not letting blood blisters fester ever again) showered, applied lotion and socked up my footsies.
My form felt natural. Still need to relax and just let go sometimes.. hips forward, etc. The few times I walked I made sure I continued to pick my knees up. I think it’s time for me to read up on POSE/CHI walk+running.
round she goes!
And in the end: My water lasted me all the way to mile 9, where I finished off the last swig.
I used to not like water. Now it’s pretty much the only thing I drink. Cool, Clear, Water.
Sunday run was a lovely 12 mile out & back along the E Lake Samammish trail. The path is full of gravel, with small to not-so-mid-sized rocks.
Two of these mid-sized rocks, the ball of my left foot had the unfortunate chance of landing spot on – two foot falls in a row. This was around mile four. Eight miles to go, and for me it became a bit of a mind game.
Running in my VFFs on a trail like this – you definitely need to relax your body. I also don’t like to dwell too much about “proper form” and such but at the same time you do need to have your awareness high for where the feet are going to land.
Once you have a bruised foot – the awareness level about where your foot is about to land maxes out and you can’t concentrate on much else. What fun is that? So – we turn it into a game of sorts. I started with the swinging motion of my legs. This actually helped a bit. The motion is almost like the “wax-on, wax-off” form that we learned from Mr. Miyagi as kids, but with your legs & feet instead of arms & hands.
Mile five was magic. There was a mist that we ran through for about 20 minutes, like a cloud was on the ground and we happened to delve inside it. It was beautiful and peaceful to be surrounded by trees… a lake on one side and running in the mist. At one point I felt like we were running in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow land, even though it was morning not night.
My running partner had some ibuprofen so I took it around mile seven although I’ve heard it doesn’t help much in the middle of a run. Yet maybe it helped a bit. Mind over matter and all that.
We returned to our starting location in much better spirits than when we started out. Funny how that always happens.
This morning I have a beautiful bruise on my foot that will most likely be gone in a couple days. Live and learn… plus it’s just a part of my feet getting stronger, in my opinion.
Sunday morning S. came over for our Long Run in the trails around where I live. It was a great run! Our overall pace was comparable to our flat-surface pace, maybe about 40 sec under. We ran nine miles through a variation of trails. I was in my KSOs, of course. I hit one rock that gave me a bruise on the bottom of my right foot.
When that was done, my husband and I took a drive in Roxy the Jeep and visited Snoqualmie Falls. SO beautiful. We both wore our KSOs and had fun cavorting around the rocks and in the water.
The only downside to that is, now two days later and the bottoms of my feet are still tender. One from running nine miles on a trail and two from hiking to the bottom of the falls and said cavorting!
In other news, Mekare’s eye is healing well – so sayeth the eye doctor from Monday morning’s visit.
In other other not so great news, my eldest cat is dying. His body is shutting down bit by bit daily. He’s 17 years old. I am torn. Should he die a natural death, or take him to the vet for euthanasia? I’ve been preparing myself for the last six months for this, and I still don’t know the answer.
Lastly, it’s supposed to be 95+ all this week. Today is Day Two of it. My poor cats. We don’t have A/C. Why would you need Air Conditioner in the Pacific NorthWest Rainforest?
I started MR running May this year in KSOs. I started out with 2-5 miles a few times a week on a trail with a big variety of surface types (rocks, gravel, dirt, mulch) with the occasional treadmill run.
Fast forward to July I’ve started wearing my KSOs for my Long Runs (10+) on tarmac. Just the other day I wondered aloud to my running partner ‘Why hasn’t my stride changed yet”? We know my landing has chagned, obviously no more heel-strike but something was missing.
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I am fortunate to live is a semi-suburb area that is surrounded by trails. People drive to where I live to walk, run, bike and horseback. It took me two years before I ventured out into my own backyard for some trail walks, eventual runs and now running in my FiveFingers.
I live on a plateau, so all runs out of my house start with going downhill and the end of the run is back uphill. Fun times.
Up until now, I’ve pretty much stayed on the trails on my side of the street. Yesterday I actually got the gumption to cross the street and run a different trail! The shock!
I completed four and a quarter miles of pavement, rocks, gravel, dirt, mulch and even a wooden bridge. It was a great run. My legs aren’t tight today – good sign my calves are getting used to proper running. Running across the bridge was a blast I felt like a Ninja!
Tomorrow I’m going on an 11 mile run with a friend. This will be the longest run yet in my VFFs! The longest prior has been nine miles. That was the second half of my first 20 mile run when I was training for the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon. I had put my VFFs in my camelbak, and halfway through the run my blisters were hurting so bad I said to hell with it and changed shoes. It’s a small camelbak, so I carried the trail shoes the entire 9 miles while running in my VFFs.
I really am looking forward to running longer, stronger, faster in these shoes. Not sure if I’ll ever venture into the barefoot running territory, but you never know.
We took Roxy to the Falls today. All the pictures are on Facebook. I need to move them to flickr and share here.
my Eternal Return 