Born to Run Ultra Marathons (2011)

Mauricio Puerto (2011 May 13-15) Born to Run Ultramarathons, Los Olivos CA

Summary

Luis Escobar had a wonderful idea, and a beautiful course.It looked perfect for barefoot running, from a shod runner’s point of view. lush pastures, gently rolling hills, in beautiful surroundings.

Just that very few people were ready to run 10 miles (or more) barefoot on sharp pebbles scattered over hard-packed dirt.

Story

Okay, I know I used to get a lot of flak from beginning barefooters for telling them that a particular course was “barefoot friendly”… well this one is barefoot “stimulating”, “challenging” and it will test your skill and willingness to yield, adapt, and romance the stones. I think the cows on this ranch spend their spare time breaking up big rocks into small sharp pebbles, and hiding them in the grass. Over two generations of ranching on this land, and the cows have covered every square inch of ground with sharp pebbles.

This course is “Barefoot Friendly”, if you REALLY want to experiment, test your skills, and figure out how to run as gently as possible. This is the place to do it – but I recommend only doing a short bit at a time, with generous breaks in between.

100 Mile Ultra Marathon??

I had signed up for the 100 mile Born to Run Ultra-Marathon (2011 May 14) – figured I’d set my goals high… or was that the 10 mile event???

Actually, I did race in the 10-mile event (Hey, I’m not crazy)… but, after resting up from that race, I planned to continue running the course, and see how far I can go before I quit, or Luis kicks me off the course… but, given the nature of the course, I figured I’d be better off relaxing, selling and autographing copies of Barefoot Running Step by Step to delirious runners as they completed dozens of miles throughout the day.

I also had a bit of diarrhea. When I ran my stomach gurgled. So I finished the 10 mile loop, without incident, or accident. Then headed to the porta-potties and checked to be sure their was plenty of toilet paper.

In between bathroom stops, I sold a few more copies of Barefoot Running Step by Step, and gave one to Mauricio, who finished the entire 50 Kilometer (31 miles) barefoot, as well as one copy to Luis for inviting me to this event, and one more to contribute to the raffle on Friday evening (which was won by Barefoot Ted).

All in all, it was a great weekend of relaxing, promoting Barefoot Running Step by Step, a little bit of running (no not the diarrhea, the other kind of running) barefoot.

Special Guest Speaker

I was the special guest speaker… along with Barefoot Ted, and Caballo Blanco

Videos

Related Links

• Ken Bob’s Regular Runs
• Ken Bob’s Running Barefoot Play-Fun-Shops
• Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
• Huntington Beach Central Park
• Barefoot Running Step by Step

Gallery