The picture is of me and my son, and running partner, Noah just after finishing this 5 mile Halloween day run. What a blast! The race had over 600 entrants, compared to around 250 last year and that made for one packed race for the first couple of miles.
I had to start towards the back to be nice to the other runners since I was hauling the baby in the stroller, so this race wasn’t about speed, just fun. A few friends made it up and we all set off together in a TIGHT pack for the first couple miles…in fact my mile splits tell the tale of just how packed the roads got:
Can you spot me above? (ill give you a hint, I’m pushing a stroller with a lion in it)
The first half was spent navigating the crowds of people and trying to get some breathing room to open up the ole stroller pushing legs. By the time we got an open space the race entered a massive downhill section that I was loving and decided to just rocket down the hill.
This race was a blast – simple, friend filled fun
The finish line was actually pretty cool. At about mile 2 I was passed by that red stroller you see above and I decided to start Stroller Wars and beat other stroller pushing peeps. I got a good lead through the downhill then I heard these two guys yelling at me on the straight away through town and we all crossed the finish line together in epic stroller pushing fashion! We’re like a gang, except with strollers instead of cars and babies instead of guns…not a very good gang now that I think about it…
Last year I ran the Stone Tower Trail Run Challenge as my first 5k ever. I remember it hurting my Vibram Five Fingered feet badly, being really rocky, and really hilly. I also remember it was a ton of fun and an absolutely gorgeous trail to run.
So this year we found ourselves back in Mass. during this race’s weekend – woo hoo. A chance to actually run the same race and see if I’ve made any improvements!
The morning of the race was chaos. My son (aka alarm clock) didn’t wake up until 7:30am and the race check in is from 730 to 830 and it’s a 45 minute drive from my mother in law’s – yuck. We ended up making it in time but I was having stomach issues from rushing, drinking a gallon of coffee in the car and from the sinus drainage that’s been destroying my head for the past week. My wife and I actually drove around after check in until 920 (race start is 930) trying to find a suitable bathroom…no luck. Oh well, race time!
I noticed the race was thinner than last year, 40 participants compared to 50 for last year’s 5k. I chatted with a few racers about my Vibram’s…most people think you’re bat shit crazy for running trails in them, what’ya gonna do???
We took off. The first mile is a steady climb up fire road (read this as “gravel” and “rocks”). Here’s the crazy thing…I didn’t feel a damn thing on my feet. We hit the top and headed out on some single track that climbs and rolls. The single track is littered with large stones and roots…I hit a few areas that made me aware that I was running rocky trails but again, I really didn’t feel anything near what I experienced a year ago. The single track spits you back onto the fire road, this time headed downhil, but not for long. There’s a hard right turn back onto single track in the final half mile that shoots straight up hill to the Stone Tower…this hill beat my ass and I actually had to hike over 50% of it. After that, it’s all downhill, hopping from rock to rock until you shoot out of the single track onto the open field for the dash home.
I did WAY better than I was expecting coming in at 5th place overall with a time of 26:14. Last year I finished this race in just over 33 minutes…INSANE!
AND….I WON MY FRIGGIN AGE DIVISION!
My feet also held up amazingly. I employed my extra padding method of sticking an insole (toes cutoff) into my Vibram’s which I’m sure helps a bit, but I was perfectly good to go after the race. I really think my feet have adapted and also I’m better at subconsciously knowing where to place my foot as I run.
I can’t say enough about this race and the course management – they do an amazing job and I highly recommend it to anyone in the area!
It’s obvious that I don’t wear “shoes”. A year after I ran my first mile in the Vibram Five Fingers, I haven’t looked back, and wouldn’t. It’s totally not a bandwagon thing where I want to be different. If you read my story on here from last August, it’s that I can’t run in shoes because I’ll heel strike or ignore my running as a technique and my right knee will start on fire, almost literally. That doesn’t mean I don’t keep up on the latest industry trends.
We all know there’s now a race amongst the top shoe producers of the world to “get minimal” with their shoe lines. They spent that last 40 years chasing bulkier, spongier, more corrective shoes and now the market has finally gotten sick of being injured all the time and they are trusting their instincts to get back to the basics.
New Balance, with the release of the new Minimus Trail Shoe, is probably the best shoe advancement I’ve seen in this latest race to minimalism by major shoe brands. It’s bitter sweet for me to be honest. You see New Balance was the last shoe I owned that pretty much made me give up ever being able to be a runner. But then, they got Anton. Fellow Nebraskan, and ultra running god, Anton Krupicka is someone that I have followed for the past year now. He’s an all around great guy and his running philosophies are something I totally feel aligned with. I was waiting for what they would do with him at New Balance since they picked up earlier this year and this shoe now makes it clear that they listened to his every word.
So, if you must own a shoe to run in, and you run trails…this has to be the best one out there to date.
The picture is of me and my son, and running partner, Noah just after finishing this 5 mile Halloween day run. What a blast! The race had over 600 entrants, compared to around 250 last year and that made for one packed race for the first couple of miles.
