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By Justin in General —

NYC Barefoot Run 2011 Recap

Had the fantastic opportunity to get up to New York City for the 2011 NYC Barefoot Run this past weekend. Special thanks to Merrell Barefoot for getting me up there — you want to talk about a company that cares about an authentic supporter of the…

NYC Barefoot Run 2011 Recap

Had the fantastic opportunity to get up to New York City for the 2011 NYC Barefoot Run this past weekend.  Special thanks to Merrell Barefoot for getting me up there — you want to talk about a company that cares about an authentic supporter of the minimalist footwear and actually barefoot running/walking/whatever movement!  They flew a slew of us bloggers, runners, and otherwise up to NYC and put us up in a hotel for the weekend simply to bend our ear for a few hours about where all this is going.  Thank you, Merrell, and major props to Emily and Craig (And everyone else who made it happen).

Who was there?  What happened?  Who ran a sub-5 minute mile on Saturday for fun?  Want to hear about what's coming down the pipe from Chris McDougall regarding the upcoming Born to Run movie or his next book?  Read on!

You can jump around on this post (as it's a bit long) via these links or the pagination/navigation below:

Friday — made it to NYC!

I got to spend my Friday night in NYC with my good buddy Tuck of Yelling Stop (And finally got to check out his custom Munson Last Russell Mocs in person), barefoot runner extraordinaire Barefoot Josh, and the good Peter Larson of RunBlogger.com — not to mention Emily and Craig of Merrell.  Discussion quickly turned to running, shoes, science, biomechanics, and, well, kids.

After a few drinks Tuck, Pete, and I hopped over to Pop Pub where we hung out with Barefoot Ken Bob, Barefoot Ted, and running coach/guru Lee Saxby.  Some riveting discussion about shoes and biomechanics ensued between Tuck and Lee (And Tuck ultimately got a coaching session with Lee on Saturday) — in Tuck's own words:

I had the chance to speak to him prior to the session, and it was quite amusing, since the last time I'd spoken to him (at the VivoBarefoot store in NYC), I'd told him that I think coaches are unnecessary if the "Born to Run" hypothesis is true.  He was curious why I wanted a coaching session with him.

We cabbed it back home and called it a night at the uber-hipster-esque Ace Hotel (Cool atmosphere with hipster service — what a combo!).
You can jump around on this post (as it's a bit long) via these links or the pagination/navigation below:

Saturday

Sadly, I woke up with something of a bug (I swear I wasn't hungover) Saturday and didn't make it to the running clinics.  My loss as it looks like they were a blast.

Thankfully, I was well on the mend by lunch and made it to the super-secret private meeting of barefoot and minimalist shoes enthusiasts led by Merrell.  Basically, Merrell's marketing group, designers, and the President of their Outdoor Group wanted to hear our thoughts about the barefoot running/minimalist footwear movement, where we thought it was going, how it might be growing, and more.

What transpired was a fascinating round table discussion that jumped from the importance of foot-friendly shoes for kids to having the legendary Amby Burfoot interjecting with a comment that amounted to calling us all a bit off our rockers.

The whole afternoon just evidenced (to me) that Merrell really does "get it" when it comes to taking the barefoot movement seriously and wanting to get their product "right" while also encouraging people to actually go barefoot.  In attendence (H/T to Christian Peterson — a.k.a. "Maple Grove Barefoot Guy" — for building this list and demonstrating what it means to be awesome for us at the meeting!):

A couple folks from Vibram also were there, too.

It was a fun discussion and I happened to video a minute of it.  Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, who recently won the Air Force Marathon with a time of 2:38:48 and runs Two Rivers Treads ("The first walking and running specialty retail to promote spending as much time barefoot as possible."), talks about the "big picture" (the 97% of the population that doesn't run).

That there is a huge population of non-runners out there who could all benefit from more foot friendly shoes is something I see as exceedingly important — mostly because that's how I came to minimalist footwear in the first place (as a non-runner).

Oh and who ran a sub-5 minute mile?  It was Barefoot Josh Sutcliffe!  He ran the 5th Avenue Mile race in 4:57 Saturday morning!  You know, just for fun.
You can jump around on this post (as it's a bit long) via these links or the pagination/navigation below:

Saturday Night — Merrell Barefoot Party

Saturday night was full of wonderful speakers like Michael Sandler of RunBare, running coach Lee Saxby, Jason Robillard, Daniel Lieberman (more on him later), and, of course, Christopher McDougall.  I managed to capture some video of Jason, Lee, and mostly Chris — if you've got about 20 minutes, you can listen to all three here:

I caught probably 90% of McDougall's Q&A session in the above video before my memory card ran out (sorry!).  Anyone else dying to know what McDougall's got up his sleeve in early November?  McDougall's next book is the subject of a lot of interest, but his lips are completely sealed on the subject. I've got a hunch (that I'll keep to myself) as to what it'll be but for now we just have to wait.  Also, sounds like the Born to Run movie will begin filming in 2012.

After his talk, I got to catch up with Christopher McDougall.  Guy really is a giant (literally tall) and incredibly gracious as basically a celebrity.

As the night wore on, so did the free booze and I ultimately shared a cab back to the hotel with Tuck, the knowledgeable Curt Munson, and Chris and called it a night.

You can jump around on this post (as it's a bit long) via these links or the pagination/navigation below:

Barefoot Race Day Sunday

The "main event" — the actual NYC Barefoot Run — was early Sunday morning at around 8:45 on Governor's Island, which is that other island off Manhattan.  If you've not been to Governor's Island, it's worth checking out as it's only a short ferry ride, provides some fantastic views of NYC, and also has a "ghost town" sorta vibe.  In fact, I joked that the barefoot zombie apocalypse might break out at any given moment (likely spurred by someone stepping on some toxic hyperdermic needle!).

Anyway, apparently over 400 people managed to shake off the free booze hangover from Saturday night, wake up, scoot over to catch the 8:10 ferry, and make it to the starting line.  Well at least 400 people likely made it to the island eventually!

Here's John Durant's figures (and you can read his NYC Barefoot Run recap here):

We had 405 people register for the run, up from 265 last year.  And we had more people come just for the clinics and talks on Saturday.  People traveled from 11 different countries around the world: US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Mexico, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Iceland, India, and Belgium.  It was the single largest collection of top barefoot runners in the world -- aside from recess at a Kenyan elementary school.

Suffice to say that between the many people unshod and the others wearing these weird looking "toe shoes," I felt right at home — even as someone who doesn't consider himself a runner (I sprint!).

The race itself is "run your own distance," and though there were certainly some long-distance runners in attendance, I think the majority of us stopped after one or two loops.

A mid-race collage.  Some of the folks pictured above include (from top left to right) Mark Cucuzzella, Patrick Sweeney in the kilt, running coach Lee Saxby (grey shirt), Christopher McDougall (giant bald guy), John Durant the race organizer and blogger at Hunter-Gatherer (bearded with the big smile) and  Jesse Scott of In Search of Solid Ground running alongside Jason Robillard (orange cap).

For my part, I ran one loop (a bit over 2 miles) barefoot, and I was pleased as punch to find that the good Pete Larson of RunBlogger managed to catch me running by with his 300 frames per minute film footage.  Check this out, I'm the first guy to enter the scene in black shorts, white shirt (in the middle).  I'm sure my form isn't perfect, but it is a forefoot strike:

"Of course it's a forefoot strike, you say!  You're running barefoot!"  Well, maybe.  See that's what's so fascinating about Pete Larson's research (and why he took so much footage of runner's at the NYCBR — just look at the last fellow running by barefoot in the above video.  Looks like he's heel striking, no?  And it seems that many minimalist shoes runners (including FiveFingers runners) and barefoot runners were still heel striking!  You'll want to follow along over with Pete about how all this falls out, and to date, he's got a couple posts up on his ongoing findings:

Incidentally, Dr. Daniel Lieberman's current research may be getting at this very point.  Again, via John's recap at Hunter-Gatherer, we get this teaser about what may be coming next from Lieberman:

Dan Lieberman, as usual, gave the best talk [speaking] about the cause of running injuries.  We got a preview of some cool results based on the Harvard Track Team -- expect them to be published soon.  Heel-strikers don't fare well.  Lieberman's hypothesis: your footwear matters less than your foot-strike.  In some cases, minimalist footwear might be even more damaging than running barefoot, because footwear still muffles the pain signal and proprioception that encourages good form (forefoot strike), but doesn't provide any cushioning.  Heel-striking in a pair of VFFs ain't a pretty [sight].

As McDougall pointed out so long ago, the bottom line isn't shod or unshod — it's running lightly.  Learning proper, light/low-impact running is a process that for most of us probably means unlearning years of shod biomechanics.  And while this is a post in and of itself, in order to reprogram yourself to run lightly, you're going to have to literally rewire your brain.  That takes two things: practice and patience.  And in the practice bucket, you're going to want to get as much feedback as possible — hire Lee Saxby if you're lucky.  Take off your shoes to in order to get maximal proprioceptive and sensory feedback (Your bare feet + the ground = free coaching).

My own hypothesis is pretty simple: rewiring our brains (neuroplasticity) takes time and requires nerves to be triggered.  Shoes of all sorts muffle sensation and slow this process down.  So while clearly some folks at the NYCBR were running barefoot or in minmalist footwear and heel-striking (gasp!), what's unclear is how long those individuals have been running barefoot or minimalist.  Err on the safe side and follow the simple advice of barefoot runner Michael Sandler (he was there, too!) and let your skin be your guide.
You can jump around on this post (as it's a bit long) via these links or the pagination/navigation below:

Post-race wrap

Anyway, the race was great.  I got to run alongside Mr. McDougall and John Durant while also making new friends like Harry from Manchester.  What a blast!

After the race, everyone loitered about eating avocados (an unexpected post-race "hit" it seems), drank coconut water, and got to check out the various sponsors.  I actually had the wherewithal to snap a few photos:

Shoes!  Leftside are Merrell Barefoot shoes including some of the stuff coming in 2012.  Top right and middle bottom are VIVO BAREFOOTS.  Bottom right Injinji toe socks!

I'm wearing my 2012 Merrell Road Gloves (the orange pair you can barely see, top left photo in the collage, right side to the left of a red pair of shoes) and will soon be testing out the VIVO BAREFOOT Ultras.  Got lots more reviews coming for that matter!

Barefoot Ted was giving getting rides on his rickshaw, and I finally got to meet Tarzan Erwan Le Corre of MovNat.  I also pestered a bunch of people to get a photo with me:

Me "glowing" as I got to meet many of the barefoot celebrities at the run.  Top left to right is yours truly with Barefoot Ted McDonald, Tucker Goodrich of Yelling Stop, Christopher McDougall, James Savage (BirthdayShoes blogger!), Christian Peterson of Maple Grove Barefoot Guy, and Steven Sachen of the Invisible Shoe.

At least some of them got the memo: no hair is cool in the barefoot community.  And then there's Steven Sachen with his flowing locks.  Jealous.

Awesomely I got to meet the James Savage (red NYCBR shirt).  You might not recognize James because you've mostly seen his feet — he's blogged BirthdayShoes reviews on running sandals: huaraches, the VIVO Achilles, Brancas, and Teva Zilch.

All in all, race day was a fantastic experience shared among many like-minded barefoot running enthusiasts.  I'm so glad I got the chance to attend.  There was even an impromptu kid's race to demonstrate "unadulterated" barefoot style running form:

I'll wrap this up with where you can find out more on the NYCBR.  If you were there and you blogged about the race, drop me a comment so I can add your post to this list!

More on the 2011 NYC Barefoot Run!

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