Gravel, Grass, Mud, Dirt and Pavement

So today I ran on a few different kinds of surfaces. It was a little wild and crazy but it was a ton of fun! This morning I ran in the Naked Foot 5K race in DC.

I may not have run completely naked (barefoot), but I did run with plenty of people who did!

The whole theme of the race was to based around the minimalist running movement. They had vendors there selling minimalist footwear and organic power foods. It was a pretty much a hippie festival.

I got there nice and early way before the half naked crowds showed up. The morning started off nice and cool but got very hot very quick.

Notice how clean everyone's feet start out? Yeah, they didn't end like that. These two kids participated in the kids fun run just before the race.

They were pretty fabulous. Even if they were half naked.

The more bare feet I started seeing, the more I thought that maybe these people weren't so crazy... But I had to remind myself, we were starting out on nice soft grass. We were going to be covering a lot of distance and terrains today.

There wasn't just people running barefoot. There were also people like this man who paid 70 dollars for his minimalist footwear. They're a piece of foam and canvas straps! He swore by them though. There were also plenty of people wearing the minimalist shoes with the individual toes. If I were to ever go with the minimalist movement, that's the route I'd go. They look weird but at least I wouldn't be stepping on anything I shouldn't be!

If I had to guess, I'd say only about 30% of the runners were completely naked (barefoot), While another 30% used some form of minimalist footwear. The rest of us wore running shoes.

So then we got started. The course started out in the middle of a grassy field and then quickly turned into pavement. We crossed the Maryland/DC line and there was a volunteer directing the flow of running traffic. She was yelling encoraging words and then started saying, "The soft trail starts just ahead!"

Soft trail?? What? What is a soft trail?

A soft trail is a narrow dirt path through the woods. This was by far the best part of the course! I've never run on dirt before but it was so much fun. It snaked in and out of trees and was so narrow that it had to be taken single file. There were streams that had to be crossed over and massive mud puddles caused by Friday's storms.

I think I loved the soft trail so much because it was smoother than running in the fields but had a nice bounce back to it that pavement doesn't have. I have mud splashed up on my calves from this section of the race! I even ran the entire portion of the trail. It was to much fun not to! The giant puddles slowed everyone down a bit but that's alright.

After the soft trail came good old pavement again. I followed this all through the park and even out to the main road. After that the marked trail led us down a huge ditch and through what was a soccer field. It was beginning to look more like a swimming pool though. The puddles were so deep that ducks were swimming in them. I stayed pretty dry but this was by far the worst section of the course. It was uneven and squishy.

As you run in these huge group races you start to stay partnered up with various people who are running about the same pace as you. I ended up running near a mother and her two children and a father with his two girls.  The mother had younger children and they would stop when they needed to and even skipped for some portions. The father however was a fairly demanding tyrant. His two girls were probably about 7 and 10 and they were not the slimmest children I've ever seen. The older girl kept stopping and walking and he would turn around and yell at her to keep up the pace. I was discusted. He kept physically pushing her shoulders to try and get her to go faster. He'd run up ahead, turn around and run back to her. He'd get down in her face and say something through gritted teeth.

Let me remind you all, THIS IS A FUN RUN!! It wasn't even timed. If your children don't want to run, don't make them run. If they do, great! Meanwhile this father is instilling a lifetime of fear of the outdoors. This little girl had already done more than others her age. I know I never even thought about competing in a 5K race at that age. After the race, I told her she did a great job. The three of them finished at the same time I did.

On the final leg of the race we got back on to the paved side walks. I may have stopped to pet a pony... I knew I wasn't doing as well with my time since that field screwed me up so much so I figured why not?

Finally, after 50 minutes, gravel, grass, mud, dirt and pavement, I finished the race. I wasn't first. I wasn't last. I finished. Then there were some post race festivities.

There were some free massage clinics.

Live music.

Foot painting.

And even some crazy people jumping and flipping off of boxes for some reason.

Also, apparently this is a thing.

Its a hula hoop workout! They stretch and do other exercises with a hula hoop. I even saw a girl on the trail using a hula hoop while running! It was fairly trippy...

We also did a little shoe collecting for a charity called Soles 4 Souls. They donate shoes to shelters across the country for people in need. My friend Sam helped me donate a garbage bag's worth!

Over all, this may not have been my fastest 5K I've ever run but it was the most interesting and entertaining. Whats the point of all of this if you're not having fun right? I even decided to flash a little toe of my own.

But just for the walk back to the car. We don't want to go too native.