When Rod Begg of the Barefoot Runners Society -Canada Chapter emailed me asking if I would mind doing an interview with the Peterborough Examiner about running barefoot at the Peterborough Half Marathon, I was a bit hesitant. I didn't want the article to be a "sideshow piece" about somebody doing something crazy. I was also worried about the pressure I would feel to push myself beyond my limits once I knew people would now be expecting me to run this race barefoot. Dale Clifford, the Examiner reporter, assured me that the article would be written as a serious running article showing people that barefoot running was a viable alternative. I spent an hour in total in the interview and had talked a lot about my barefoot running. I didn't know how much of the information would end up in the article and how it would be put together, but I figured a small article in the back of the Saturday paper wouldn't get much attention anyway. To my surprise, when I asked Dale when the article would run he said tomorrow, front page. I read the article online Saturday morning and I was pretty happy with it apart from a couple of photos. I had asked if Dale if he was planning on doing a follow-up interview after the race and he said he was so I really hoping things go well on race day.
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2952523
Zem Gear footwear are light and warm. I found them to be quite good for running in cold snow. However, their soles are not meant for running on asphalt or concrete, even if only for short distances. The sole on the bottom of my left Zem Gear boot is shredded. I got a lump of snow built up under the black sole covering at the end of a run so I had to take them off for the last few hundred metres. I cut the ripped black covering off, but I am a little hesitant about running in them again this winter.
A tendon in my right foot is really bothering me now and I am going to have to take some time off running. I hope it will only take a couple of days rest. The tendon that is bothering me is the one that I use to move my right big toe and I can feel it in the arch of my foot. I think it is from all of the running on slippery lumpy packed snow that is covering the sidewalks and paths. I believe I was running more on my forefoot on the lumpy snow and this is what caused the soreness. The foot doesn't really hurt, but I just don't want to run on it until it feels normal.
