Road Race Footwear for the Unshod Sole

Sunday was to be a shod day. I went out for 10 miles and found it rather unpleasant. My legs felt a bit heavy; I was speculating that it was the contrast of having run ten miles the day before without shoes, but in hindsight I think it was the hill work from Saturday that left me a bit sluggish. I felt all the same pains that I complain about when I run shod such as toe joint pain and plantar faciitis. I went out for three more miles pushing Elliott around sunset and felt pretty good but not fast.

I feel a dilemma approaching as to how I should run the Bolder Boulder. I feel like I am losing my shod running conditioning but I don't want to do that much more of it, although I do plan to do some shod speed work the next couple of weeks. It seems that I should be able to find a shoe that would allow me to use the barefoot type of foot strike but allowing me to power along a little better. A wide racing flat could be the solution, but I am told that such a shoe isn't made. I can run kind of fast in the VFFs but I don't think I can keep up a 7:30 pace for 10 kilometers on pavement in them.

A co-worker who is coaching his daughter for the Olympic marathon, as a result of a conversation about people who have been misguided in running shoe choice at Alan Culpepper's store suggested that I have Mark Plaatjes help me at his running shoe store. I've already been buying my shoes there for at least the past ten years and I've always had injuries with them. Maybe it is the because of the choices of shoes they have to offer or maybe putting people in running shoes is where they're going wrong.

If I can get to the point where I can sustain 7:30 pace in the Vibrams I will try those for the Bolder Boulder, otherwise I may spring for the Mizuno Alchemy which supposedly has a small forefoot to heel height difference and comes in a wide.