Fun Run with the Robillards and Merrell

Saturday, October 29 was a terrific day. Well, the morning was at least since New England got hit with a freak storm that afternoon and as of 4Nov, there are still people without power.

Anyway, Merrell and City Sports of Wellesley, MA were kind enough to host a run and clinic with Jason Robillard. Some of you may have heard of him before or read his posts on Barefoot Running University. Heck, most of you are probably already facebook friends with him since he is basically friends with the entire world. Jason and his wife, Shelly, are traveling the country to teach good running form. They are doing it with their 3 kids (ages 2, 5, and 7) and their neice in a travel trailer. You can follow their shenanigans at Robillardadventures.com.

The morning started out in the parking lot where about 30 or so people had gathered. Merrell had demo pairs of their barefoot shoes for folks to try but I was already sporting my well worn pair of Trail Gloves. It was pretty darn cold and most of us were itching to get moving. I got to chat with Jason a bit before the event and he's a terrific guy. I'm a complete geek when it comes to running shoes, gear, gatgets, form, whatever and Jason is no different (geek is a compliment in this case, of course.) I know I could have talked about this stuff forever.

Geeking out about shoes and running.  Photo courtesy of http://www.brandifitzgerald.com/

Jason led the group in a Bareform Technique clinic. Bareform is pretty simple and should be very helpful to anyone who is interested in learning a more natural way to run. I won't try to regurgitate the lesson but I will link here if you are interested in learning more.

After the lesson, everyone was encouraged to put their new found knowledge to the test with a 5k run through the parklands of Wellesley. I got to run for a bit with Shelly and we chatted about kids (I have 2 of similar ages), running, ultras, and traveling around the country in a trailer. It was really great to shoot the breeze while running with her. The social side of running is the best part. Shelly had just run Bimbler's Bluff 50k and said it was a great time. I am definitely going to set my sights on that one for next year.  With all of the great company, the 5K went by too fast.

Most people were wearing shoes for the run since it was chilly. My friends Matt and Ivan are hardcore and went naked footed. Represent!

After the run, we went into the store for coffee and more socializing. Merrell raffled of 5 pairs of their shoes which was awesome. I didn't win. :-( Jason gave everyone a copy of his Barefoot Running Book and autographed them all. I highly recommend this book if you are interested at all in the whole barefoot/minimal thing. Worth the read. I'll even let you borrow my copy as long as you promise to give it back.

Hanging with Jason after the run

Somewhat fuzzy pic of Shelly and I

All in all it was a terrific day and I'm really glad I went. I'm really looking forward to hooking up with Jason and Shelly again. Hopefully, I can make it to Pineland or NYCBarefootRun next year.

Cheers!