Barefoot Running Step By Step: Book Review and Giveaway

Before today’s barefoot-related post and giveaway, a barefoot-related announcement: earlier this year, VIVOBAREFOOT offered a workshop in New York City with barefoot running expert Lee Saxby. The multi-day event provided practical and theoretical components of barefoot running, and participants earned certification to join a growing network of barefoot coaches.

If this sounds like your sort of thing, the company is offering the workshop again, this time a little further west. The next session is October 26-30 in Denver, CO, and will again feature Lee Saxby and the same curriculum as the New York course. The cost is fairly steep ($3000), but if you’re passionate about barefoot running and looking to develop or enhance your personal training resume to share the benefits of barefooting as a career move, this might be an investment worth making. Check out the VIVOBAREFOOT Training Clinic website for details.

**

Of course, another way to enhance your knowledge on a particular subject is to do a lot of reading - and when the topic is barefoot running, there are more and more options out there to choose from. One of the most noteworthy offerings comes from another well-known guru, Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton, whose new book Barefoot Running Step by Step is coauthored by Los Angeles Times fitness columnist Roy Wallack.

In the interest of disclosure, I should say that I was interviewed to contribute to this book, and ended up on the cutting room floor (or, in digital parlance, in the recycle bin of the writer’s hard drive.) Roy Wallack contacted me through this website, and we had a long phone conversation about my rationale for taking up barefoot running and whether I was going to stick with barefoot running for life. (This was shortly after I had published my multi-part Barefoot Files series, which is still available for reading on my right sidebar).

I’m not particularly upset about being left out of the book – in fact, now that I’ve read it, my exclusion makes a lot of sense. As I’ve described before, I don’t have a particularly dramatic back story about becoming a barefoot runner; it was just something I had thought about for a while, and one day finally decided to try it. And after an extended, generally successful progression to barefoot running, I ultimately decided that my long-term preference would be to use minimalist footwear for my ongoing exploits in ultrarunning. As it turns out, those factors made me something of an oddball among everyone else featured in the book.

Barefoot bliss, Summer 2010

That’s not to say I disliked the finished product, however. More than anything, Barefoot Running Step By Step is a comprehensive instruction manual for anybody interested in becoming a barefoot runner. It draws heavily from Barefoot Ken Bob’s website, which for many years was the only Internet outpost to provide any instruction or support for barefoot runners. (And honestly, I always found the website quite cumbersome to navigate, so having all the important information in one collection is quite refreshing.) Ken Bob was one of the earliest advocates of barefoot running - his website started in 1997, which is a relative epoch in the timeframe of the modern barefoot movement - and over the course of several years has certainly became the most prominent. He has taught workshops to barefoot runners all over the world, been featured in hundreds of magazine profiles, and has been an easily recognizable fixture at countless road races for the past two decades.

Barefoot Ken Bob; photo from BarefootKenBob.com

By all accounts, Barefoot Ken Bob is a force of personality, and that spirit is apparent throughout his book, which is filled with humor and strange observations and insightful “Barefoot Ken Bob-isms” developed over many years of experimenting and refining his technique. Several chapters are chock full of helpful advice on proper barefoot form, and the book has extensive color photographs to better visualize the concepts involved. If you’re starting your barefoot endeavors from scratch, this book is an ideal tool to walk you through the process.

Among the material in the final chapters are multiple profiles of barefoot runners, from the famous (Abebe Bikila, Zola Budd) to back of the pack amateurs, all of whom have compelling stories to tell about the benefits of going shoeless. I was impressed to see that one story actually included a runner who had a miserable experience on a gravel path during a race; it echoed my own frustrations with running on gravel fire roads, which in turn influenced my preference for minimalist footwear.

That leads to the main criticism I have of Ken Bob’s book: he’s very dismissive of minimalist footwear, Vibrams in particular. The rationale is that your sensory feedback isn’t as good as when you’re barefoot – but the authors also make the claim that because of this, you’re more likely to get injured wearing Vibrams than you are by running purely barefoot. I happen to disagree with this point; it’s well-established that plenty of new barefoot runners develop injuries, and I believe the benefits you gain from a bit of protection outweigh the sensory advantage of having naked feet. In my opinion, successful progression hinges more on patience and proper form than on sensation or protection.

Aside from that point of contention, Barefoot Running Step By Step is a very thorough overview of the why and the how of barefoot running. It would be a valuable tool for novices, and I’m confident that even experienced barefoot runners would find some useful pointers. It’s unlikely that many of us have been at this longer than Barefoot Ken Bob, and it’s never a bad idea to seek the advice of our forerunners when trying to improve our own experience.

Barefoot Running Step By Step retails for $15 from Amazon.com and is also available for $10 on Amazon's Kindle. Also, in conjunction with this review, the book’s publisher has generously agreed to ship one copy directly to a winner selected from this post. Leave a comment below to enter, and I’ll announce the winner on September 17th. Good luck to everyone!


*Product provided by Fair Winds Press
**See other book and product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.




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CLIF Coconut Winners; Random Shots of Beauty

Here’s something you can file under “things I never would have believed until they actually happened”: that a simple post describing my feelings about the tragedy of September 11th would trigger an angry rant from some maniac commenter (anonymously, of course) who eventually concludes that I’m helping to ruin America.

The exact content of the remarks isn’t worth sharing or dwelling upon, so you can’t go back and see them, and I don’t need to go into any further detail here. However, for the immediate future I’m going to ratchet up the threat level on comment security, so the one tangible change you’ll notice here is 100% comment moderation for a while. Sorry for the inconvenience.

At least there’s one piece of good news to report today: the winners of the CLIF Bar Coconut Love giveaway. Running Farmer, Lisa (in Alta Loma), and Slim Katie: e-mail me your contact info – you’ve won the contest! Thanks very much to everyone else for the great response, and big thanks again to CLIF for sponsoring it.

**
This weekend’s first Random Shot of Beauty isn't actually random at all - rather, it's one of the most memorable images from the aftermath at Ground Zero:

Photo from AP

As well as one of the most symbolic pictures of sorrow, resilience, and heroism that I’ve ever seen. It's not surprising that monuments have already been based upon it.

And in the spirit of moving forward, here’s a snapshot from the side of a small local business in Salinas, reflecting a mentality we can all use a little more of:

The text reads: Only by disregarding color, race, age, and economic status can we unite and recover from our wounds and threats. United we stand, divided we fall.

To which I can only add: Amen.



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Honoring September 11th

Admin note: I’m switching the order of scheduled posts for the next few days; I had hoped to have a report of my family’s Big Sur hike in this spot today, but another topic was just weighing on my mind more and more, and eventually pushed everything else to the side. This is a somewhat somber post before what promises to be a very somber weekend nationwide – so bear with me for a few days and we’ll hit the ground running (barefoot running, in fact) again next week.

**

At the moment the world changed, I was outside running.

It was a Tuesday morning like countless Tuesday mornings before it, as our training group met at 5:25AM to do our routine 13-mile loop. The run itself wasn’t that remarkable; I honestly don’t remember how long it took me or how I felt. I could probably look it up in my training log, but I don’t really care to know.

The memorable part was afterward, while walking towards the cars, where we were met by the fastest runner in our group, who had finished a few minutes ahead of us and had already flipped on his car radio.

Two airplanes just crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City, he told us. I remember thinking that it was the setup line to some twisted joke – but the more he described the news report, the more the stark reality sank in. We began our run in one world, and finished in one that was irrevocably different.

As far as the aftermath of September 11th goes, I’m one of the fortunate ones. I didn’t lose any loved ones in the attacks, my hometown didn’t become an environmental wasteland, and I wasn’t required to put my life on the line in the call to protect and defend our nation. Rather, like millions of others, I just began to consider the world in an entirely different manner.

Whenever I see an airplane now, I wonder if it’s flying lower than it should be. When I’m in the stadium at a Giants game in San Francisco, or crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, I recognize that they’re not only attractions and landmarks, but potential terrorist targets as well. Irrational fears are never completely settled anymore; sometimes I wonder if the iconic bridge will still be standing when my grandkids are around.

In the eternal contest between the forces of good and the interests of evil, there’s no question that evil scored a lot of points that day. I still have faith that goodness is in the lead, and certainty that it will ultimately prevail. (To borrow a popular Christian expression, I know how the story ends, because I’ve read the back of the Book.) But just like in any sport, once those points are on the scoreboard, they can’t be taken down – and I guess I’d feel a whole lot better about things if we could be throwing a shutout, or even if we had a slightly more comfortable lead.

Ten years later, I still live a charmed life; I have more blessings than I can possibly count, and probably more than I could even imagine. Above all else, I’m fully aware that life is as fragile as it is beautiful – which is all the more reason to appreciate those things we have and the people we have to share them with. And that’s probably why I’ll start this September 11th the same way I did a decade ago, running outside through my tranquil neighborhood trails – a place and an activity for which I’ve become more and more grateful with each passing year.

It’s not the same world it used to be, but it’s still a pretty darn good one – and hopefully I can always do my part to keep it that way.

**

My friend Mike was with me on that run on September 11th, 2011 – a day that was already an occasion of mourning for him even before it was synonymous with national tragedy. He explains why in the Monterey Herald column that follows below.

There was one notable departure from our writing routine for this article: when he sent the first draft to me for editing, I sent it back without revising a single thing. This is your story, I wrote back, and it’s very meaningful. I’m not going to change a word of it. Without question, that was the right call.


The Running Life 09/08/11                    “Honoring September 11th”

“I ran. I’ll never forget the sound of the building crumbling behind me. I didn’t turn around. I just ran and ran and ran.”
- One survivor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mike gets personal about September 11th.

Screaming and running have always been our primal human fear defense mechanisms. Running away is the natural thing to do.

At some point in every race and often in daily runs every runner is faced with a moment of decision; do I keep on running hard and be physically uncomfortable or do I back off and take it easy? It is at these moments that each runner looks within and often discovers who they are or who they can be.

It’s at that moment and by that decision that the runner feels most alive.

In three days I honor the 17th anniversary of September 11th. No, that’s NOT a typo. Actually the story starts on Friday October 15th, 1993. My first wife Sue was running at the Hartnell College track in Salinas and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage due to an aneurysm. No warning signs, no behavioral changes, no headaches in the previous months. She required immediate surgery and an MRI indicated she had Glioblastoma Multiforme 4, a diagnosis you never want to hear, advanced brain cancer.

She was 46 and outwardly extremely healthy; maintained a healthy weight, a runner, a swimmer, never smoked, only drank alcohol occasionally and it was red wine. She ate all the recommended foods, with a lot of fruits and vegetables; never used extra salt, didn’t have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, always ordered dressing “on the side”. She maintained a fairly easy-going personality and we had three relatively stressless and wonderful children.

All of us runners and health addicts who think we are “bulletproof” should think again. Lifestyle choices are only one part of the puzzle. After the surgery, the doctor said the prognosis was less than a year and she passed away 11 months later on September 11th, 1994; a precious and vibrant life gone at a far too early age.

She and our family struggled during that 11 months, but my running thrived (as meaningless as it seemed), as I used it and my running partners for stress relief, strength, and comfort. I ran and ran and ran.

September 11th was our unique family day for memories for seven years until 2001. It still is, but we now share it with the entire country. Somehow it only feels right that September 11th should be a national day of honor and reflection.

We had 11 months to confront and face death and talk about it and the consequences. I can only imagine and pretend to feel the pain of those whose loved ones left for work on a “normal” day, or to take a plane on a “routine” business trip, and they never saw them again. No time to even think of goodbyes. Nearly 3,000 people died; 411 were firefighters, police, and paramedics who ran into the World Trade Center buildings and overcame their fear.

On September 11th, instead of re-creating pictures in our mind of the horrors of tumbling and broken buildings, and airplanes falling from the sky, we should think compassionately of those precious and vibrant victims that died and their grieving family members. Make it personal.

Before you go for a run on September 11th, and every day after, make sure you are running toward something and not away from it. And hug your family before you go.




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Merrell Barefoot Kids Trail Glove Review

Reminder: if you haven't done so already, go sign up for the Coconut CLIF love giveaway contest. The review will still be here when you get back.

**
"Put on your kid gloves, put on your kid gloves -
Then you learn the lesson that it's cool to be so tough ... "
- Rush, "Kid Gloves" (video after post)

Earlier this year I reviewed a handful of minimalist shoe options for kids that included a sampling of traditional shoe manufacturers as well as some dedicated minimalist brands. Noticeably absent from that collection however, were options from a company who excels in both categories: their traditional footwear is well established, and their minimalist credentials are also outstanding.

I’m talking about Merrell, who thus far has done everything right in embracing the minimalist movement. In the spring they introduced an entire Barefoot line of running and casual footwear – including the men’s Trail Glove and women’s Pace Glove which have proven to be among the most durable styles of minimalist shoes I’ve reviewed.

Merrell Barefoot Big Kids Trail Glove

All that was missing from the lineup were kids shoes – and this summer, Merrell took care of business there as well, debuting junior versions of both the Trail Glove and Pure Glove, each of which is available in “little kids” (sizes 10-3) and “big kids” (sizes 3.5-7) models.

Unlike the adult versions, the Kids Trail Glove isn't gender specific; it can be worn by both boys and girls, with a collection of colors that will complement the most masculine or feminine wardrobes. (Of course, my little girl got the black and blue pair, but testers can’t always be choosers. Better she learns that hard lesson at an early age.) The Pure Glove is a slightly more girlish style, but has a light blue option that might be OK with boys - it's kind of a judgement call. My daughter has been testing the Trail Glove, and has used it for everything you can think of, from hiking to tennis to an everyday school shoe.

Flat, flexible, yada yada yada ...

Besides being gender-neutral, the Kids Barefoot shoes are the equivalent of the grownup versions in virtually every other way, with just a few stylistic exceptions. Of course, the most important features of the adult Trail Glove are here: a zero-drop platform, a wide toe box, and a completely flexible midsole and outsole for natural foot movement. It’s even got the same 1mm shock plate that the adult version uses to diminish impact forces in the forefoot.

Vibram TC-1 rubber outsole

The outsole looks a little bit different – a more kid-friendly appearance, for sure – but it’s made of the same Vibram TC-1 rubber that all Merrell Barefoot shoes utilize. This rubber compound is extremely durable, as my Trail Gloves have yet to show significant signs of wear after more than 200 miles of running. In other words, there’s no way your kid will wear these down before he or she outgrows them.

Wide base of support in heel

Proportionally, Merrell’s kids’ shoes have a wider base than the adult Barefoot line, which supposedly improves ground contact and stability for little feet. I understand the concept here, but I don’t know that it’s completely necessary; when my girl runs around barefoot, she doesn’t have any apparent problems with stability. But perhaps that’s just me being finicky.

No socks required

Inside the shoe, the kids’ Gloves are made of the same microfiber footbed that keeps the grownup foot secure on the midsole without slipping. Like the adult versions, the kids models are designed to be worn with or without socks, using a soft sockliner and a completely seamless interior to prevent irritation against bare skin.

Kid-friendly on/off functionaliity

From a construction standpoint, the only significant difference between the Kids Trail Gloves and the adult version is the upper; instead of an Omni-lacing system, the junior models use elastic laces with a Velcro strap across the top. This results in a much easier open/close mechanism for little fingers …

… and in a related story, the Merrell “M” on the strap reminds my daughter of the Monsters Inc logo. That’s definitely an upside.

Basically, Merrell’s Barefoot Kids shoes are everything you’d want children's shoes to be: flat, flexible, durable, lightweight (roughly 4-5 oz, depending on the size) and low profile – but best of all, they allow your child’s feet to function naturally for virtually every crazy activity they might encounter. They retail for $60 from Amazon.com (the link on the page says men's, but the sizes are toddlers' and kids') in multiple sizes and colors.

*Product provided by Merrell
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

**
Reaching way back into the mental archives for this one: no, it has nothing to do with the shoe review - but everything to do with me being a complete music geek in junior high school. OK ... make that ever since junior high school.

Rush, "Kid Gloves" (click to play):





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New CLIF Bar Giveaway Contest: CLIF Bars, CLIF CRUNCH, CLIF MOJO

Right from the start, I knew this product review would be one of those good news / bad news situations.

It’s good news because the company involved is CLIF Bar, whose products I love and actions I greatly admire. They’ve been generous supporters of my website for a long time now, so I’m always willing to get involved with publicizing any new items or initiatives they need help promoting.

The bad news – for me, at least – is that the first shipment that arrived didn’t have anything I was especially eager to taste. The box contained three varieties of CLIF Bars: a brand new Coconut Chocolate Chip flavor that was introduced this summer, as well as reformulations of two previously existing flavors, Peanut Toffee Buzz and Apricot.

Another dose of CLIF love

See, here’s my problem: I pretty much hate the taste of coconut. Always have. As luck would have it, I’m not a big toffee fan, either. And when it comes to my favorite fruits, I can tell you that apricots fall quite far down the list. It’s fair to say that I have some idiosyncrasies when it comes to food, and this batch of goodies from CLIF Bar just happened to strike all the wrong notes.

My quirky hang-ups turned out to be great news for my family, all of whom were more than happy to step in and assist with this particular round of testing. And this review will prove to be great news for a few of my readers, who will receive a sampler prize pack of all the new products described here – so let’s run down the specs and get to it.

Product photos courtesy CLIF Bar and Company

First up is the new CLIF Bar Coconut Chocolate Chip flavor, which features toasted coconut along with plenty of chocolate chips. This one received unanimous approval from my wife and three kids, and stands out as a somewhat unique flavor in the energy bar category.

Two other CLIF Bars were improvements rather than introductions. As you’d expect from a company of foodies and athletes, the folks at CLIF are driven to continually improve, whether it’s their marathon PRs or the taste and texture of their products. Apparently the Apricot and Peanut Toffee Buzz flavors weren’t quite to their liking, so they enhanced the ingredient list for improved flavor.

The Apricot flavor now features 50 percent more apricots, and has a noticeably more tangy flavor than the old version (yes, I actually tested this one). Peanut Toffee Buzz has more peanut butter and real toffee pieces to enrich the taste; my wife really likes this flavor, although she didn’t have a point of comparison since she had never tried the old version.

**
Obviously the folks in the CLIF labs have had a busy summer – because in addition to the new CLIF Bar flavors, they introduced five new flavors of their other popular products.

CLIF CRUNCH is a crunchy granola bar made with organic ingredients, sold in 10-bar boxes on the shelves of many grocery stores. Their new varieties for the summer are Blueberry Crisp and Chocolate Peanut Butter, two flavors borrowed from the regular CLIF Bar lineup that have a unique taste when formulated in granola bar form.

Blueberry Crisp has always been one of my favorite CLIF Bar flavors, but I think I actually like the CRUNCH variety a little bit better. Since the CRUNCH is firmer and more brittle than a regular CLIF bar, it adds a bit more crispness to the Crisp, if that makes sense.

As for the Chocolate Peanut Butter – an offshoot of the Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch CLIF Bar - its taste kind of reminds me of the Butterfinger candy bars I used to like as a kid, except this grownup version is a lot healthier for you. My kids ate these up pretty quickly as well, so they apparently have a fair amount of candy bar appeal as well. (On a related note, my kids have a ton of healthy options that I never enjoyed while growing up; if they don’t grow up eating better than me, it’s my own dang fault as a parent.)

**
CLIF MOJO is a trail mix bar that is really unlike any other product on the market. It’s made with 70 percent organic ingredients, has a texture that’s pleasantly crispy yet chewy, and a flavor that’s a delicious combination of sweet and salty. This summer, there are three new flavors of MOJO bars to choose from, one of which is absolutely perfect for camping or late night beach fires.

First up, however, is the new Chocolate Almond Coconut flavor, which I had to pass off to my associate testers. They have toasted coconut, chocolate chunks, and whole roasted almonds, and the kids raved about them after finding them in their lunch boxes one day. The White Chocolate Macadamia flavor is another offshoot off an existing CLIF Bar flavor, with roasted macadamia nuts and soy white chocolate chips. This is another of my favorite CLIF flavors, so I really enjoyed the same taste in MOJO version.

However, far and away the favorite flavor of the whole family from this product sampling group was the MOJO Dipped S’Mores. The “Dipped” part means the bottom layer of the already-awesome MOJO bar is dipped in chocolate, making it even awesomer (yes, that’s the right word). The S’Mores part is almost exactly what the name implies, with chocolate chunks and crunchy graham cookies; the only deviation is soy white chocolate bits in place of marshmallows. If there’s a more perfect flavor for lazy summer nights after active summer days, I can’t think of it.

**
So now for the really good news: CLIF has agreed to do a giveaway in conjunction with this review, giving three lucky winners the chance to sample all of the bars mentioned above. If you’re like me and aren’t partial to coconut, trust me, you won’t have any problem finding friends to help you test them. If you happen to love coconut, this prize pack promises to be something fantastic.

Standard entry rules apply for this one: leave a comment below this post to enter by midnight on Friday, and I’ll select three winners at random and announce them before next weekend’s Random Shots of Beauty post. Very big thanks to CLIF Bar and Company for sponsoring this contest, and good luck to everyone!

*Products provided by CLIF Bar and Company
**See other product reviews on sidebar at right. If you have a product you'd like reviewed, contact me at info@runningandrambling.com.

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VIVOBAREFOOT Women's Evo 50% Off Sale; Random Shots of Beauty

Another weekend, another sweet sale announcement ... with an extremely cool opportunity if you're a female looking to test the waters of minimalist running shoes.

This week I reviewed the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo Trail shoe, which will most likely prove to be a "very good but not great" offering for minimalist trail running. The gold standard from VIVOBAREFOOT is their truly outstanding Evo running shoe, which I reviewed here and which I've worn with great success in several ultras.

The only drawback of the Evo is the price tag, which strikes many runners as too steep to take a chance on - but this weekend 50% of my readers can get a great deal on them. I've mentioned the membership discount site The Clymb here before, which is free (and easy) to join and periodically has major discounts on a small selection of items for limited-time basis. This weekend they're having a Labor Day Flash Sale, where you can save up to 70% on a limited variety of outdoor gear.

Of particular interest to me was the Women's VIVOBAREFOOT Evo which is currently offered for 50% below retail. I suspect the stock of these will vanish quickly, so if you want to grab a pair, get moving.



The sale on VIVOBAREFOOT and other Labor Day flash items expires on 9/6/11 at 9AM PDT. Happy shopping!

**

I had go a little bit out of my way for this weekend's Random Shot of Beauty, but it was worth the trip:

Sunlight penetrating the fog cover on the Tan Bark Trail in Big Sur, CA, where our family enjoyed a wonderful hike today. I hope to have a full report next week, but the planned posts are starting to stack up a bit around here ... so let's just leave it at that for now: I hope to.

**

In honor of an extended weekend, you get an extended Random Shot of Beauty as well. This one was taken by my friend Gretchen several weeks ago, but it brings back fond memories:

That would be me, running into a Lake Tahoe sunrise underneath a full moon on the second morning of the Tahoe Rim Trail 100. I stole the photo from Gretchen's wonderful report of the event, which she finally published this week, and is a must-read if you want a taste of why ultrarunners appreciate our sport so much.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone.



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Lessons From A Pacer

I mentioned very briefly in a recent Random Shots of Beauty post that I had an opportunity to be a pacer at last month’s Salinas Valley Half Marathon. My task was to run even splits to maintain a sub-1:50 pace and carry as many people as possible along with me.

It was a great success – and at the same time, it was a colossal failure.

I held up my end of the bargain, staying within a few seconds of my goal pace with every mile split - give or take about 20 seconds each way due to hills – and finishing in 1:49:10 by my watch (a few seconds faster by chip time). The problem was everybody else; of the 30 or so people who matched strides with me off the start line, exactly zero of them crossed the finish with me.

A portion of the Salinas Valley Half Marathon course, as seen on my pre-race warmup run

Afterward, the pacers all compared notes and realized that most of us had very similar experiences; we nailed our splits and hit our goal times, only to fid ourselves way out in front of the people who intended to stay with us. It seemed like a great topic for a post-race article – but we had to be careful about how we phrased things.

Since the race attracted so many novice and first-time racers, we couldn’t exactly come out and say “you guys all screwed up”, or “none of you idiots know how to pace yourselves,” even though we might have thought those things. Instead, we put together a list of take-home lessons that those runners will hopefully use for future reference – and it became the premise for the Monterey Herald column that follows below.


**
Running Life 8/25/11         “Lessons From Your Pacers”

At this month’s Salinas Valley Half Marathon several members of the Wednesday Night Laundry Runners club joined the race as pace group leaders, or “pacers”. They compared notes afterward, and their observations are both instructive and insightful for novice racers.

Here’s the job description of a pacer: given a target finish time, they try to finish just under that goal time; it’s best to run each mile as consistent as possible based on the course conditions and hills. They carry balloons so other runners can pick them out and try to keep up. Pacers provide encouragement to those following them.

Pacing is a fun job; you experience all the excitement of a race without the stress of competing for best times or age group awards. There’s a bit of pressure, however, to keep the right pace all the way through. We’re happy to report that all of the pacers at the Salinas Valley Half finished in exactly their assigned goal times.

Here are some of the lessons they learned en route:

1. Everybody starts too far up.  This is epidemic at nearly every race. Even though there were prominent signs marking the projected pace times at the start line, each of the pacers ended up passing dozens of people who thought they’d try to get our fast and get a head start on. In the age of chip timing, this strategy is especially foolish.

2. Even splits result in a lot of passing.  This is the related corollary of observation #1. During the early miles, pacers running even splits had to avoid runners who shot off the start line with more ambition than talent. Later on, a steady pace assures you of passing these same runners who are now struggling just to make it to the finish.

3. Trust your body - not the runners around you. Some pacers remarked that runners with them made comments about going either too fast or too slow at various points of the race. Good pacers – and any good distance runners – learn to know different paces by feel, not by how the “starting too fast” and “finishing too slow” crowds are moving. The best even-pacing strategy is to practice a given speed in training and then work within that same zone on race day.

4. You can rally.  All the pacers observed that during the final few miles of the race, whenever they passed somebody, that person would try to keep up for a while, recognizing that he (or she) was slipping behind the goal pace. Many runners rallied enough to stay ahead of the pace balloons – so just because you’ve hit a bad patch doesn’t mean you can’t regroup and finish strong.

5. Keep your eyes on the prize.  Pacers reported that runners approached them after the race to say they could see the balloons in the distance and they kept them in sight all the way to the finish. Sometimes you need a visible beacon to keep you focused; if there isn’t a pace group in front of you do the same thing with a fellow runner in the distance ahead.

6. Races are parties.  Spectators aren’t used to seeing runners with helium balloons tied to them; some pacers heard comments like, “Happy Birthday!” and “Where’s the party?” That’s a nice mindset to have during a race – because really, any race should be a celebration.

The next time you’re at a race, feel free to match strides with a pacer; you’ll end up running a smart race, sharing some fun with the group, and you'll probably learn a few tips along the way.




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