It's Official. I'm a Pig.

It's been quite a week. The big development is signing up for the Pigman 1/2 Ironman in Iowa. Shev's going to meet me after she trains for her upcoming Ironman in Wisconsin and she'll swim on a relay. I will bring the girls. It should be fun.

I am excited to see how I'll handle the distance. I've not been training for this (or anything for that matter) so I need to take it EASY. My plan is to make a day of it by not charging the hills and not trying to push. It will also be a new distance achievment for my barefoot running as well. I am a bit worried the road will be too hot. By the run the sun should be at it's apex and the pavement may be scorchin! If you smell bacon....

If I am going to do a full marathon barefoot, I'll need to keep pressing the distances. Pigman will be an excellend opportunity to do just that. Plus I should get a great endurance workout and I will experience running tired barefoot.

I am making progress. Tuesday night was the all comers track meet at the Peoria Stadium. I am glad I went. We were rained out but none the less most of the meet went off without a hitch. The Peoria Track and Field Club is off to a positive start. This week in addition to 2 all comers track meets they are hosting a camp at no cost for kids k-8. This is a great thing for Peoria. We'll be searching for voluteers with experience running track meets to raise this to its max potential. I ran the 3k. Wow, what a great distance! The goal was pacing. I tried to run exactly 1:30 quarters. I was a few seconds slow. In the past, I've tried to do barefoot running on a track thinking it would be more gentle on my feet. It's deceptive though for although you have a soft, gravel free, surface you also tend to revert to the old habits learned in shoes. So, I often get a blister.

Wed evening I went for a bike ride and got my butt handed to me by my wife who effortlessly climbed away from me. I ended up lost outside Chillicothe but found my way back. I finished about the same time as her but she went much further. On Thurday I did a 60 minute swim workout and then later went to the FAST practice where I did 6 miles of barefoot running. It went well and I managed about a 9 minute pace.It was an improvement over my previous barefoot attempts on this terrain. I just need to keep it up. I saw a lot of folks including Chris Alexander who is having knee surgery today so keep him in your thoughts. After he recovers he's going to do some barefoot running as well. I look forward to having someone around to talk to about barefoot running. Hopefully we'll make some progress together.

Tomorrow I am competing in my first Tri in Canton. It's just a sprint distance and thats a good thing. The trail run is 3 miles approximately and paved supposedly. I need to get my bike cleaned up. It's a disaster. I am looking forward to it.

On Sunday, I plan on running 12 miles barefoot and then biking with Shev for about 40-50 miles of her 6 hour ride. So that's my plan. For the week I will have 22 miles of barefoot runnig. Not bad.

Why do I enjoy to run barefoot? I think the feeling of my feet on the road makes me feel more alive. It's no different than wanting to go outside on a cold winter day. You could just stay indoors. It's strange.