Alan Thwaits, our very own “AlanT” on the forums, recently completed his first half-marathon, the Run for the Grapes half marathon in St. Catherines, Ontario—in his black KSO fivefingers. I asked Alan if he’d mind I share a bit from his blog post on the race, his second in KSOs (First was a 10K):
Sunday’s Run for the Grapes half marathon went really well. It was second race in my Vibram Fivefingers KSOs and my first KSO-equipped longer distance race (the first was the Underwear Affair 10K a couple of weeks ago). Here are the stats:
Finishing time: 2:07:45
Pace: 6:04
Category placement (men 60 – 64) 7/12
Gender placement: 189/244
Overall placement: 305/451That’s not bad at all, considering that I’ve really only been running in my KSOs for three weeks. Before that, I took about four weeks off training because of injuries I’d sustained from overdoing it when I started running barefoot. But the healing process went well, and my “on the fly” three week training program got me to the half marathon. …
I got lots of interest in the KSOs, all the way from cute comments to serious enquiries. Interestingly, the more experienced runners said they’d heard or read good things about them, and wanted to talk about transitioning from conventional shoes and whether running in Fivefingers might help alleviate long-standing injuries. One young runner said he already had a pair of Fivefingers Sprints, and was just beginning to transition from conventional shoes. After the race, I had a couple of long conversations with runners who said they would seriously consider buying VFFs. I think I might have made some converts!
You’ll have to go to Alan’s blog, The Road to Comrades, for the rest. Also, check out why he runs while you’re there.
Thank you Alan for both your contributions on the forum and for sharing your experiences running and racing.
4 replies on “Alan’s first half-marathon in his fivefinger KSOs”
Alan seems like a really cool dude. I’ve enjoyed reading his blog and talked with him a few times about the run.
He’s been my inspiration for running a half in my 5fingers. I think it might be a little too ambitious for me at this point…We’ll see.
Not a bad time either! I love the photo as you can see everyone is looking at his feet.
i ran my first race – a half-marathon here in Cape Town – this past weekend in my pair of KSOs, and lopped 15 minutes off my usual plodding time. i loved running in them – felt springy and light and able. i was the only person running in alternative footwear and got loads of comments — most of them positive. one runner passed a snide comment that i would most definitely get shin splints – hilarious when you consider that it’s the heel strike kind of running normal shoes encourage that results in this type of injury. south africa is still lagging behind in the barefoot scene, but i think it will start to grow. i suffered a little with sore, tight calves after the race, but the following day felt absolutely fine. running in vibrams makes me feel like a kid again!
Found this site through my cousin Jessie who is Alan’s son’s girlfriend. I just got myself a pair of FiveFinger Sprints. They are INCREDIBLE! I love them. I used to get crippling pains in my foot after only 5 minutes on any cardio machine at the gym while wearing traditional runners. I wore my FiveFingers to the gym for the first time and went for a 45 minute ‘ski’ on the elliptical. Almost cried, I was so happy:D
Trying to access Alan’s blog I’m told that I need permission to enter? Could this because I’m located in Europe?