Running in the Snow

It is the day after what the Philadelphia Inquirer has rated the 17th heaviest snowfall in the city’s history, and man, I really need to go for a run.

Thirty-five degrees, bright and sunny, but a foot or so of snow just isn’t going to go away that quickly. Vibrams for traction, Injinji socks for warmth, by the end of the block my feet are soaked, my toes going numb. I push it out for a mile before I decide to cut back, give it up before hurting myself. But then my feet begin to warm up from the exercise, feeling floods back into my toes. I keep going, up and down the narrow streets of my neighborhood, figuring if I stick close to home I’ll be alright.

Mountains of snow, seas of slush, but I manage to pull out five miles. Good as long as I keep going. But as soon as I finish the run, stand outside my door and fumble for the keys, the cold slams in.

My First 10 Mile Run Without Shoes

My 10 mile run through Philadelphia's Roxborough neighborhood.

A major milepost for me last week -- I completed my first 10 mile run in my huaraches. A typical December afternoon in Philadelphia – overcast, cold (35 degrees), snow flurries. Ice along the banks of the canal in Manayunk.

I seem to be acclimating to the winter weather. My feet were cold throughout the run, but not enough to shut me down. Heeding advice I picked up from barefoot running blogs, I carried a pair of thermal socks (didn’t need them), and chose a route that in the last half provided the opportunity to bail out and grab a bus if I ran into problems.

Here’s a link to my route on Run.com, if you happen to live in the Philadelphia area. Please note that there is a significant climb about midway.

Yesterday it was my birthday ...

Cormac Clancy and yours truly, Dublin, December 2001, just before my 40th.
Say what you will about these guys, they do take their pints quite seriously.

Yesterday it was my birthday
I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed
My life's a mess
But I'm having a good time

-- Have a Good Time, Paul Simon

How I Hate the Indoor Track

5 miles today on the indoor track.

Gallery

Fusilier's Arch, St. Stephen's Green, Winter 1984-85

No run today. Instead a bike ride to Chestnut Hill, where I met Donna for a drink. Road home as it was getting dark, beautiful Christmas lights on Germantown Avenue. Biting cold.

Today I have begun the daunting task of uploading photos to Flickr to create a Gallery for this site. Most of these photos were taken close to thirty years ago,  so I may have gotten some things wrong. Old friends, if I have left out anything important, please let me know. Also, please let me know if you have your own photos or memories to lend to the effort.

Cold Weather

The view from my apartment, Herbert Place, winter 84-85

Ran into work yesterday, 8 miles. The temperature was around freezing when I started, and according to the scrolling banner atop the PECO Building, 34 degrees when I hit Center City. I wore a pair of Injinji socks with my huaraches to help protect my feet from the cold. They helped, but were not enough. My toes were numb for much of the way. Not a good thing, considering how important it is to receive feedback through your feet when running barefoot or with minimalist footwear. Either my feet will have to toughen up to the cold, or I will have to come up with an other solution.

I've been reading in the news, and in Facebook postings from friends in Ireland, about how bad the weather has been this past week. Lots of snow and ice.

Cold ducks, St. Stephen's Green

And so I have been remembering another patch of icy, cold weather in Dublin -- late December, early January 1984-85. I awoke one morning to heavy snow coming down, trimming the roofs and chimney pots outside my apartment window. I grabbed my camera and made for St. Stephen's Green, where I snapped this photo of the ducks floating in the snow lined pond. All of the color had been bleached out of the day, rendering everything in black and white and gray. Somewhere I have a photo of the Fusilier's Arch at the top of Grafton Street, faded out in the swirling snow. When I find it, I will post it.

Commuting

My walk along the Grand Canal, circa January, 1985.

I commuted to work this morning via my feet, for the first time making the 8 mile run in my huaraches.  I left the house at 6:20, while still dark, and had to rely on street lamps to make my way.  But as I came down Ridge Avenue toward the Wissahickon, a rose-colored glow appeared in the east, and by the time I passed under the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, morning was upon the world.

Why Dublin?

Trinity College ID, 1983

Took my huaraches outside for the first time this afternoon. A pleasant five mile run in damp weather. Still got to get used to that cord between the toes, but I’ve gotten much better at tying them. Fall leaves beautiful.

There have been two great cities in my life. One is Philadelphia, where I've lived for most of the past thirty years. The other is Dublin, where I spent the best years of my twenties, and to which my heart will always belong. When I was about to turn forty, nearly ten years ago, I marked the occasion by running the Philadelphia Marathon. As I prepare to turn fifty at the end of next year, it seems only fitting that I mark that occasion by participating in the Dublin Marathon.

I had three extended stays in Dublin. In spring of 1983, I spent a semester at Trinity College as part of a study abroad program through Temple University. From fall of 1984 through spring of 1985, I did the whole wannabe-writer-in-exile gig in a small apartment on Herbert Place. I didn’t get much writing done, but I took a lot of great walks along the Grand Canal. I forget at the time how I explained my long stay through the spring of 1989, but the real reason was that I had fallen in love with the sister of one of my friends. But that’s a long story.

Anyway, I spent enough time in Ireland back in the 80s to put me at risk for mad cow disease, according to the American Red Cross. Which is why to this day they will not accept my blood.

Dublin has remained in my life. In the past ten years, I’ve been back to a number of times with Donna, my fiancée. First, just the two of us, then with her two children, Erin and Alex, and the last time, with the kids AND her parents. To which I can only add, Whew!

All my old friends are now Donna’s friends too. My old stomping grounds her places to revisit as well.

Huaraches

Dan's Homemade Huaraches

I took my brand new home made huaraches out for their first test run yesterday. I did about three miles on Drexel University's indoor track.

A few first, quick impressions...

For the most part, they felt great. Not quite the same as barefoot running, but closer to barefoot running than Vibrams. Very liberating! And a lot of fun.

I haven't yet found the best tying method, and it does feel weird running with a cord between your toes. I'm going to be patient for the time being, and allow for a learning curve. The real test will be taking them outside for some longer runs.

I'll continue to report on my experiences. In the meantime, if you want to learn more, I purchased my kit from InvisibleShoe.com. The website provide a lot of great tutorials --  not just on huaraches, but on barefoot running techniques as well.

Persistence Hunting

Today's run: .5 miles (unscheduled). 

I reached the intersection of Walnut Lane and Ridge Avenue just as the 9 bus was taking off. Damn! I thought. At least 20 minutes until the next one. Then I thought, no, don't let this one get away. I started after it, as fast as my dress-shoe-clad feet would allow. It was soon out of sight. But as a good persistence hunter knows, it's all about the long haul. You see, just like a gazelle, a 9 bus can go a lot faster than a human being, but also like a gazelle, it has to stop from time to time. Catch its breath, so to speak. Unlike a reasonably fit middle aged man with delusions of grandeur. So there I was, running down Ridge Avenue, for blocks and blocks, an endeavor so stupid it can only be fun. And then, just as I crossed Manayunk Avenue, there it was, far ahead, trying to blend in with the other traffic, hoping I wouldn't see it. But I had. A renewed burst of speed. Caught it! Just in front of the train station.

Made my day, anyhow. And impressed the hell out of the driver.

Hello

Hello. My name is Dan Allen, and I am planning to run the 2011 Dublin Marathon next October. I will be nearly fifty by then, and this whole endeavor is intended to distract me from that reality. Also, I should mention that I intend to train for and run the marathon barefooted.

If you're still here, let me explain that last part a bit farther. The germ of this idea began about a year ago when I heard a radio interview with a man named Christopher McDougall who had recently published a book called Born to Run. In a nutshell, the book's premise is that running barefooted is far better for us than running with shoes. And yes, when I heard that I nearly turned to another station.

Instead, I listened a while longer, and McDougall's argument began to make sense. After all, for the last two million years, give or take a millennium, we human beings have been running, and for the vast majority of that time, we weren't wearing Nikes.

McDougall is good about backing up his assertions with statistics, statistics that suggest that the running shoe industry is causing injuries rather than preventing them. Running shoes, the argument goes, keep us from feeling pain, but do not keep us from hurting ourselves. Also, we run far differently in shoes than when barefooted, striking down hard with our heels rather than distributing the huge force of that impact.

All of this began to resonate with me, because I have experienced extreme pain from running. Just before I turned forty, I ran the Philadelphia Marathon. The last six miles were excruciating. My arches felt as though they were on fire, and every time my feet struck the ground, that fire shot up through my legs. The memory of that pain kept me from running another marathon.

But now here I am, a decade later, planning to have another go. I've been doing some short three mile runs through the neighborhood barefooted, and longer runs wearing Vibrams, a minimalist alternative to standard running shoes.  Running this way takes some getting used to. I get blisters on the balls of my feet when I over do it, and an ache in my lower legs. But overall, I am feeling much better, and having a lot more fun.

So have I found the answer? I don't know. Too soon to say.  A large part of the reason I'm writing this blog is to explore and share my experiences. It should be an interesting adventure.