Borrowdale Fell Race

[balin]

I find it quite interesting that people can be disqualified from a fell race for not carrying waterproof trousers which they will never ever wear, whilst people are allowed to run in footwear that is entirely unsuitable to the terrain and the conditions, to the point of being dangerous.

Were you kicked as a child by someone wearing funny footwear? Give it a rest.

[nightingale]

Were you kicked as a child by someone wearing funny footwear? Give it a rest.

I don't think Zoot buys into the minamalist footwear debate

[swift]

To, "Fella in the five fingers", Great write up on the Vibram vibe and good effort.

It's nice to know that there are still eccentric, creative, interesting people who are up for trying new things.

[Methuselah]

Thanks Swift. It's Five Fingers Man here, aka Monkey Boy. And thanks Nightingale and balin for offering some defense on my behalf!

I must say, it suprises me that someone wearing different footwear can elicit such strong feelings and I feel I ought to pick up Zoot's point about safety.

Whatever I said in my blog post about being on my arse a lot, that's not the same as my footwear being dangerous. A few weeks earlier I did the Snowdon race in the same shoes. I fell over once. From speaking to the marshalls, I gather a few other runners took some pretty nasty tumbles. No doubt these runners were shod in normal fell shoes. No doubt they were running a lot more aggressively than I was. One reason would have been the confidence their more suitable shoes gave them. A few years ago I ran the Langdale Horseshoe in a good pair of fell shoes and had two of the nastiest tumbles I've ever had - and that includes all the subsequent races like the Peris, where I wore Five Fingers.

You quickly learn what your new capabilities are when you change footwear, and behave accordingly. If you careered down grassy mountainsides in a pair Five Fingers as if you had Mud Claws on then yes, that would be dangerous - but you simply wouldn't do it. You instinctively know that you can't. You are especially careful at places where it matters, such as on parts of the route from Scafell to Great Gable on the Borrowdale. Yes, I fell over a lot - but all I got was a few bruises because I was naturally moderating my speed.

So why bother changing footwear if you have to be more careful and it takes longer? Well first of all, I am not in danger of beating the record, and as Nightingale graciously points out, I could have made the cutoff if I'd wanted - so it's still the same run but slower - to me it's all about getting out on the fells and enjoying it.

But there is a good reason I got into barefoot and minimalist footwear, and it's not because I am a gullible punter seduced by the promise of a 'more natural' footwear. It's because I was open minded enough give it a try and in the process learned an incredible amount about the benefits of getting your feet back into the state of strength and toughness they were meant to have. Most people who walk around in normal shoes all day have fallen arches and sundry other podiatric issues. They have feet like babies and couldn't walk outside for more than a few yards. They don't get to enjoy the immenseley relaxing experience of walking on a trail barefoot, receiving, essentially, a free foot massage - or the sense of achievement from running a tough fell race without the protection of thick-soled, studded shoes.

It may sound like a load of new age, hippy BS but you only have to look at the direction Innov8 is taking to see that minimalist footwear is being taken seriously.

[daz h]

Lot of good things there my friend. Look at aspics road shoes nowadays. Nearly 40mm of cushioning. No wonder athletes get injured the minute they switch to their spikes for the xc season. Ive said it for years. A well known forumite on here says that road shoes are now like clown shoes. I think she is correct. And she has won fell races so she knows a thing or two

[ZootHornRollo]

Methuselah - really interesting post.

My comments were a bit on the arsey side - born slightly out of frustration that I've not run for a couple of months and probably for a couple months more - so I appreciate such a measured response.

Anyhow my take on it is this: that man wasn't made to run over mountains, mountains weren't made to be run over. It's not natural - it's a triumph of will over practicality - and therefore requires some assistance in the form of clothes.

There may well be some anthropological truth that biomechanically we were barefoot runners - but that was the grassy savannah plains. I don't think anyone ever went running after caribou on Great Gable.

So just as even hardy souls like Mallory and Tensing needed a pair or boots and a bit of equipment to have a crack at Everest; so people who try run over a broken and shattered high-level landscape do.

Now if you can have a crack without shoes and get round without injury then I take my hat off to you. I just don't quite see the point, I suppose. I'd think 'well why not wear shoes and get round a bit quicker?'. I tend to see it more in the category of the great british eccentric than a serious attempt at a 'natural running style'.

However, I do believe that people should be free to do what the hell they want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else, so I guess I should just shut up and let you get on with it really.

But if I was an RO for a Lakeland Classic I'd be tempted to require that people wore suitable footwear, cos not to seems very likely to end in tears.

[Methuselah]

Hi Zoot - no problem - your equally measured response is appreciated.

There is certainly a bit of the British eccentric in me, so no doubt that's a component of my footwear journey.

The trouble with fell running is that it can include reasonably extended stretches of flat-ish terrain, on top of which, some of my training runs do too... so I am torn between an acceptance that once you are in the mountains, the biomechanical impact of shoes is less pronounced, and a desire to get my flat running totally correct. Just wearing the minimalist shoes all the time seemed like the best way to crack it, provided I could adapt to the mountains. As we have seen, I need to be a bit more pragmatic and, unless/until Vibram release a shoe that has studs instead of just tread, use some low-profile innov8s for the grassy races.

At the upcoming Peris, you can expect to see me in some x-Talon 190s, provided they arrive in time :-)

[Methuselah]

p.s. Daz, thansks - I love 'Clown Shoes' - I am going to use that one!

[black sheep]

it was me on the enduro bike watching and supporting the race, a local person with invested interest! dnalB A

[peawet08]

invested interest!

That's ok then!