Swaledale Road Runners

Karen Saward completed the Snowdonia marathon in 4.31.19 in very windy and wet conditions. It's good to see her back running after a serious injury earlier this year. Well done Karen.

If any of you watched the S4C coverage of the marathon you might have spotted a runner in a Swaledale vest running barefoot. Read on for an account of former member Neil Parkinson's latest exploits!

Snowdonia Marathon 2011 - running bare foot!

Good experiment, lots of feedback, but not the outcome I was hoping for.

Barefoot all the way round? Yes

Under 5hrs (a generous target)? Yes

Finished in one piece? No! I've now got serious, and I mean serious, blisters on each foot (although at least they demonstrate good forefoot strike).

The roads were a lot rougher than I'm used to, so my feet were tenderised a bit. Immediately I finished I could hardly walk, but one free massage and the attention of St John's later and my feet were covered in dressings (I can hardly walk even now).

That said, the number of people who supported me throughout the run was amazing! I think most people were impressed by the thought of running bare foot, but there were also people genuinely interested in the whole concept of barefoot running - so it was very affirming. I still love the idea of barefoot running, and I'm glad I ran bare foot yesterday, but next year I'm going to run Snowdonia in my aqua shoes - which will give the next best thing to the bare foot running style, but also allow me to enjoy the run more.

And as an aside - when I put my Birstall Running Club vest on 20min before the start I realised that I'd brought Rach's shirt, so I ended up running in my Swaledale long sleeve yellow top (which wasn't a bad idea considering the weather). So anyone who remembers the mad barefoot runner will assume that they belong to Swaledale!

Neil Parkinson