Shoreline Shuffle
So I finally did it! I ran my first race in my huaraches. I was a little nervous about how fast I was going to be able to go, especially over the technical section that is the red trail. The red trail has a lot of rocks, in fact it’s all rocks! Big, small, bumpy, flat, sharp. The terrain never relaxes! I found my sandals just gave me just enough grip to keep from flying around. My feet just rolled over all the rocks. I didn’t really feel the need to slow down at all. My feet adapted to the turn allowing me to move naturally and efficiently over the varied terrain.
The night before the race we had a nice rain, which soaked the first half mile of the course. The start of the race took off down the grass path towards Lands End. The grass path was muddy, soggy and wet! The biggest worry with the wetness was the leather straps for the huaraches are going to stretch. I didn’t notice the stretching of the huaraches until after the Red Trail and started a climb up a fairly big hill (as far as Clinton Lake is concerned) and before I reached the top I was feeling like I was about to slide out of my shoes! As soon as I reached the top I had to stop and retie the lacing. As I was tightening up my shoes, Kristi Mayo came running by. I hurried up my straps, took off running again. With in a matter of minutes I noticed that my feet were starting to slide around again. So again, time to retie. this time I tightened up the part of the strap that goes around my heel. Feeling better this time I took off running again. But things were starting to slide a bit more (I think my lacing strategy was a bit lax cause I was trying to hurry up). I figured I’d stop one more time and retie my laces and call it good, cause the rest of the course is going to be flat and fast all the way to the stairs.
Once reaching the bottom of the stairs I knew I was home free. The stairs are flat, dry and easy! (though two flights) I took em two at a time all the way up hearing my friends cheering me on.
I finished my first race in huaraches. Not only did I finish the race, I placed! 2nd Male Overall (technically I finished 5th, but cause of the way the awards were distributed I found myself with 2nd place 
I’m happy with myself. I was excited to see that I can run, and run well, while wearing these. I think my transition to becoming a minimalist runner is well underway!
