100 mile training

Here's a brief update on my training. I have 26 days left until Hallucination. The training has went well thus far- no injuries to report. My training mileage has been pretty good- 45, 65, 81, 31, and 71 over the last five weeks. This week will likely be somewhere in the ballpark of 50 miles as I start a gradual taper over the next four weeks.

Mt crew is coming along. This last week, about 30 of my miles were run with Mark, one of my pacers. Some of Mark's friends may also pace which would be great! I will probably need all the help I can get! I'm still finalizing the plans for the race weekend, but it looks like everything is falling into place!

I bought a new pair of Vibram KSOs for the race- size 46. They are two sizes larger than what I typically wear to account for swelling in the latter stages of the race. I wore them for a 35 mile trail run over the weekend without incident. It is interesting, Vibram decided to make the soles of the KSOs slightly thicker than previous versions. This is somewhat disappointing as the new version loses some of the ground "feel". I was excited about the new "Treks" Vibram is set to release in October, but the sole is supposedly twice the thickness of the current KSOs. I'm not sure I could tolerate the difference.

In other news, I'm currently exploring the feasibility of starting a barefoot instruction business. Over the last four years, I've immersed myself in the study of barefoot running. My research, coupled with the practical training and race experience I've gained could be very useful to a new barefoot runner. I may have finally found a way to couple my love of barefoot running with the years of professional education and coaching experience! If anyone is interested in being a guinea pig for my methods AND you happen to live in the greater Grand Rapids area, drop me a line at barefootchronicles@gmail.com. I will offer the coaching for free to a handful of individuals to get some feedback prior to going public.