I’m thankful for all of the support I had in the One Day Run for Hunger.  With the help of a great many we raised $1045 for the Oregon Food Bank, and as chance would have it this matched exactly my goal of $10/mile as I logged 104.5 miles in those 24 hours.  That was good enough to take home a plaque for 4th place.  I had a great support crew, from my father who was there from setup to pack up, friends who came out to support me through the morning and afternoon, and my wife who stayed all night and joined me for 12 miles in her Vibram Five Fingers.  I was also pleased to see supportive messages during the run from people cheering me on through the internet.  When the run got very tough late in the night, all of that positivity really kept me going.  In the end there was just too much sharp gravel to make an attempt at a fully barefoot run, and I wore Vibram Five Fingers for the majority of the race.  I did put in a few miles early in the race running barefoot on that beautiful sunny day around Lake Sacajawea.

I’m working on my race report, I think there’s much worth sharing from the run, but I wanted to get the word out here that I surivived, and my feet did too as shown after the race!

It turns out that January’s barefoot 50K at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Ultra 50K with a time of 4:14:52 was enough to earn the title of “World Record” for fastest barefoot 50K kept on Barefoot Ken Bob’s Running Barefoot site.

I have to admit, this didn’t even occur to me, even when I realized that my run had a place on his results page, until Ken Bob responded by pointing out that it was the fastest on record.  This got me wondering, what am I really capable of as a barefoot ultrarunner?

At this month’s One Day Run For Hunger, I will be running barefoot/minimalist for 24 hour hours to raise money to fight hunger in our communities.  I’ve run a 100 mile mountainous trail ultramarathon in Vibram Five Fingers, so I’m confident that I have what it takes to run at least 100 miles in 24 hours without running shoes.  My question becomes: how far can I go barefoot?

Long ultramarathons are already full of unknowns.  Adding in the factor of extending my barefoot mileage would increase those unknowns, but could well earn me a world record for farthest barefoot run in a 24 hour timed event.

There are challenges that I would not have included if I set this up to set a world record.  Existing records have been set on smooth cushy tracks, while this is a groomed trail with a stretch of gravel on the loop course I’m a bit concerned about.  I’ve done gravel on similar courses without issue, but I don’t know how happy I would be happy to run over it 100 times.

Tell me what you think.  Play it safe or set the bar high?  As I’ve already said, I will be toeing the line barefoot and running the whole thing without shoes.  I already have it in mind to see what I can do with just me feet.  But I’m curious to hear from you.

Let me know here, on the Facebook group, or even on the One Day Run For Hunger fund raising page.

Beginning on the morning of Saturday 20 March 2010, I will be running for 24 hours at the Pacific Rim One Day Run raising money to fight hunger.  I will be toeing the line barefoot, and will run the whole race without shoes.  I hope to run 100 miles, and raise $10 per mile.  Contributions will go to the Oregon Food Bank through Firstgiving.

Can you sponsor one or more  miles to help me reach my goal of raising $1000 for the hungry in our communities?

Visit One Day Run For Hunger at http://www.firstgiving.com/onedayrunforhunger

Thanks!