Vrana said:
Lehigh98 said:
I just signed up for this earlier today...
Barefoot Running Clinic - Reservations Required
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location - Holiday Inn, Buckingham Room
Speakers: Christopher McDougall, Author, Born to Run
Had been hearing more about it recently and wanted to find out more info.
Going to a barefoot clinic with Christopher McDougall is probably the best thing you can do if you are at all interested in barefooting. I
highly recommend reading his book. Even if you aren't interested in running, it's one of the most inspirational books I've ever read. Chris is the biggest name in barefooting right now because of how successful his book has been.I'm extremely jealous of you, that clinic should be amazing.
This was actually pretty cool, Chris seems like a great guy. We met in the conference room and Chris talked for 5 mins or so and talked about how he could tell us all about barefoot runners through history and his experiences, etc but people would always ask him... "Great but how do you F###ing do it?" (He had a tendency to drop the F bomb a few times) So he basically said, "Take off your shoes and follow me". We headed out of the room, out of the hotel, and across a busy street in Allentown in our bare feet. We got over to an open (concrete, grass on the side) courtyard and he kind of went through his thoughts on how to do it, here's what I remember...
- Be quick, be light, be invisible (might have screwed one on those up)
- Shorter quicker strides, overextending and heel striking won't work barefoot
- You generate your forward motion (and how fast you go) by how far you lean forward, you basically lean to the point where you are falling forward and then move your feet ahead to stay upright.
- Think of your strides in terms of focusing on picking your feet up not striding ahead.
He lined people up in two long lines and then in groups of him + 6 (3 on either side) ran to show people how he does it and so they could try it too. He asked people what they noticed about his and others forms and made comments. Everyone went a couple more times with him evaluating and making comments. He then asked if anyone wanted to do it again and went a couple more times until everyone was comfortable. Then he answered some questions from the group and when it was all over stayed around for some pictures and to answer more questions.
There was a camera crew there the whole time and afterwards I asked them what they were recording it for because I knew a few people who couldn't make it and would be interested.
Turns out the were from HBO Sports and they were recording it for a spot that I think they said would air on May 18th? Check your local listings and keep an eye out for a guy in a grey longsleeve Lehigh Valley Ironpigs T-shirt.
Here's a few pics I snapped on my iPhone for you...
Meeting Room
Walking through Allentown barefoot
Talking about technique
Getting ready for a practice run
Questions at the end