The long and windy trail
Summary
Only me and Barely Barefoot Don (in Vibrams) had RSVP’d, so I decided to take Report at PsychoHerman.com (who is over 70-years old in dog-years) up to the trail, and maybe only run about 5 miles, so we ran, walked, hiked, out about half way to the turnaround (we thought), and turned around and (mostly) ran down the trail, some walking, some stops to give Herman some water, and one stop for chatting and photos with a couple of other groups of people, and ran into Shelly from my work, who is also pictured in my book, “Barefoot Running Step by Step”.
How Far
As it turned out we completed more than 6 miles (according to my GPS), which is longer than Herman has run or hiked in a few years.
We plan to come back out here again, in a couple/few weeks, and run the full 10 miles.
Gallery
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- Ken Bob in the 1997 Road Less Traveled 10-mile Trail Race
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- Ken Bob finishes the 1999 Road Less Traveled 10-mile Trail Race in 1:12:18
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- only about 1/4 mile of stimulating crushed rocks at the start (and finish) reminding barefooters to run gently
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- Parking lot is stimulating for barefooting
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- mostly hard-pack dirt or clay
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- A little more rough stuff
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- hard-pack dirt
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- Still more uphill
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- The long and windy trail
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- only a few spots as rough as this
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- hard-packed clay
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- some bedrock
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- some bumpy bedrock
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- some bedrock
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- some bedrock
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- Mostly nice hard-pack dirt and clay
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- some horse hoof prints, here and there
When
Sunday 2013 January 13 11:00AM
Where
Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center4500 Carbon Canyon Rd
Brea, CA
Parking
Parking is $5 unless you have a California State Parks annual pass.
Maps
Today’s run
View 1/13/2013 11:06am in a larger map
Race course
View Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center in a larger map
Story
Checking out the course for the Chino Hills Trail Run Series 10-mile event.
16 years ago I ran my first “official” barefoot race, “The Road Less Traveled”. It was after finishing the 10-mile trail run on rocky trails in 1997, due to so many people expressing their curiosity about barefoot running, I was inspired to set up the original Running Barefoot website (this website) to help answer people’s questions.
Without this website, most of you folks probably still would not have heard about barefoot running. It was through the original Running Barefoot website that Barefoot Ted discovered barefoot running in 2003. And as most of you know Ted was featured in the best-selling book “Born to Run
Anyway, except for the gravel parking lot, and the path to the starting line, and about 1/4 mile at the start and finish, which is some really stimulating challenging crushed rock, the trails in this race mostly hard-pack dirt, clay, and bedrock, with a few small (less than a few meters, in most cases) patches of rough gravel, so it should be “BARE-able” for most barefoot runners who are ready for a challenging, hilly, 10 mile trail race. And the worst parts at the start (and again at the finish) should serve to remind us all (barefoot runners) to run gently.
In 1997, I ran this course (in the opposite direction) barefoot and finished in 1:11:06, despite taking it very slow and easy the first couple miles, and it was my first race of any distance, with or without shoes, in about 10 years. But, some of that speed is because this race is mostly uphill the first half, and mostly downhill the second half. It’s pretty easy for me to make up for going slow on the uphills when I run downhill. I LOVE running fast downhill! Look ma, no brakes!
I suffered absolutely NO damage to my feet or body running this 10 miles of trails at an average pace of just over 7 minutes per mile… Today, however, we completed about 6 miles, in nearly 3 hours… mostly because Herman (who is over 70 in dog years) wasn’t ready to run this far… though he did much better on the downhill, especially near the end when the trail was in the shade.
