This year I set myself a couple of running goals:

1. Run my first marathon.

2. Run one thousand miles.

I ran the White Peaks Marathon in May and really enjoyed it. Plus, all those long training runs certainly helped achieve the second target, which I hit much earlier than I anticipated.

And then I was goal-less.

I had been running barefoot twenty-five percent of my total mileage, and so decided to up the longest distance from about 8 miles and try for a barefoot half marathon – Goal three!

Training went pretty well, and I got up to the distance by the beginning of June – the first attempt at a barefoot long run! But I carried on running 13 or so miles barefoot most weekends, even managing a 16.5 mile barefoot run a couple of weeks ago on cherry picked roads and a sensible pace. But it took until this weekend to finally run an official barefoot half marathon!

Final mile

I got a little carried away with the pace, as I had intended to relax and enjoy a 1:54 hr race. This time would have equaled my first half marathon in traditional shoes. My 1:44 hr actual time is less than 3 minutes off my PB from last year in vibrams.

Cool mud at finish was a welcome bonus!

I put my unexpected time down to the number of long barefoot runs I did while waiting for race day, and enjoying overtaking the shod runners! I was aware of passing a lot in the first few miles because I started between the 2:00 and 2:15 hr markers. But the runpix system reports me overtaking 328 runners in the second half alone, while only being passed by a single runner!

I also realised there was another barefoot runner on the course from a few spectators comments of “There’s another barefoot runner!” Two barefoot runners out of 3431 finishers isn’t a bad ratio – Our numbers are definitely exploding!

Post race refreshment!