I WON! I WON!

In honor of this weekend's Salt Lake Marathon, another post on running:

So I have never been a good runner. Even when I was clocking 20 miles a week apres college, it was usually on a treadmill and only lasted a summer. (Then the bone spur and the knee problems resurfaced.)

In junior high, when I was on the track team (there were no 'cuts,' obviously... you just had to show up), but I was labeled a "sprinter" in the loosest sense of the word. I didn't have the endurance for distance running, so I did the sprints. But I was never fast enough to win anything.

Which is why I am pleased to announce that I won my first 10k! OK, well I actually just won my division (the barefoot division, of course)...ok, well, technically I was the ONLY ONE in my division, and technically it wasn't even a sanctioned division... but it's a win nonetheless (don't steal my thunder. You have your own blog... let me set up a false sense of spectacularness on my home page, um'kay?)

So the truth is, I 'did' my first 10k in almost 10 years last weekend (April 10th ...It was down in St. George), and I was the ONLY runner without shoes?!?!

Which kind of surprised me. After all those blogs and barefoot websites I've been reading; not to mention the waiting list for 'Born to Run' at the library, it seemed that there would be a lot more people going shoeless. So you can imagine how shocked I was to discover that EVERYONE WAS IN RUNNING SHOES?!?!? (Ha!)

(The feet after the Race: I thought they'd be dirtier)

Here's what I came up with (socks for half the race; barefoot the other half):

What I wore for about 1/2 the race

What I wore on the other foot

During the race, I got a few comments from the sidelines and fellow runners "WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES?" And "Why are you barefoot?!?!" At one point, on the final hill and the last mile & 1/2 of the race, I passed a group of three guys who obviously went out way too fast in the beginning.

As I plodded past them, they groaned: "Oh we're getting passed by a girl." Which was a pretty ridiculous comment: more than 1/2 the race participants were female, and I was jogging at a 10:30-pace so most of the estrogen had whooshed passed them long ago. But I kept going up the hill, and hear more groans: "And she's NOT even wearing shoes!"

As most racers will tell you, the best part of the race is the finish, of course... I didn't take last, which was a good feeling (the pace I started at had me the back of the pack for about the first 3 miles.) But I felt great the whole time (minus a minor side ache). No knee problems, no heel trauma. It's nice to run pain free.

At the finish line, a winner from the 5k division (that had made 'where are your shoes?' comment) handed me his divisional prize: a $15 gift certificate for the St. George Running Center towards a pair of ....RUNNING SHOES.

After Race hair, After Race Face but with my 'prize'

PS. Did I mention Danny ran the race too and beat me by a full 8 minutes! He probably could've been faster, but his shoes were obviously weighing him down...

This post is dedicated to the Tiger killer Bree, who successfully completed her first marathon this weekend (so proud of you friend!), and to all my friends who run... you're inspiring!