Early Morning Trail Run In Huaraches

My buddy Dan and I packed up our car at 0520 this morning and drove 3 miles to Garin/Dry Creek regional park in Hayward, California.  He took one look at my 5 Finger Vibram's that were on the floor next to his feete and gave me a funny look.  He said there is not much there to run in.

You should have seen his face when I turned on the light and showed him my feet shod in hand made huaraches that I received in the mail last night from Invisible Shoes.

It was really cold when we entered the deep canyons of this remote park.  My bare feet were freezing cold!  The gravel on the fire road made things even worse.  I felt like I was running on a bed of nails.  Fortunately, we found a nice dirt single track trail to run on.  Ten minutes into the run, my cold feet could not take it any longer.  Dan was surprised when I slipped off my huaraches and slipped on the Vibram 5 Fingers.  Lightweight shoes have their advantages!

I was not really prepared for the cold.  I had on enough warm clothes on top-a t-shirt, long sleeve thermal, and a light weight wind breaker.  Everything below my waist was summer wear including my cold bare feet.

It was a good thing to take it easy in my huaraches and not run too far.  As excited as I am about them, I need to be careful so I will not get blisters by the small ropes attached to my feet.  I was well prepared for any blisters as I added mole skin in the area wear the rope goes between my toes. 

The experience running in huaraches with exception to the cold weather was nothing short of total freedom.  I customized my Invisible Shoes to feet like socks on  the bottom of my feet.  They contoured perfectly to my arches.  I am not sure if this is by design or by luck.  Whatever.  It worked for me!  It was just like running barefoot in the play ground.  I felt everything.  Yes, I felt the sharp gravel rocks, sticks, twigs.  I managed to dodge  all the cow pies without any splats.


The big question is will my feet get tough enough to run on the Bay Area gravel fire roads?  I sure hope so.  Three weeks ago, I was thinking the same thing about running in the Vibram's.  I felt every rock and pebble.  Now it just seems natural and I don't give the trails a second thought.

Garin Regional park is an awesome place for trail runs.  There are dozens of miles of trails through various terrain.  It's a good place for a quick trail run mid-week after work or for a short Saturday morning workout.

We climbed up very quickly and had a great view of the sun rise over the Bay Area.  This place is loaded with wild life.  We heard coyote yelping and turkeys gobbling in the deep canyons.  Dan had visions of mountain lions jumping us.  I told him that we had a better chance seeing mountain lion around Mission Peak.  This park is loaded with deer.  When I drive by early in the morning or towards sunset, I often see as many  as 20 grazing lazily in the open meadows.

Even thought this park is extremely close, I rarely run there because for trail runs, I like to venture out for 5-6 hours in Mission Peak or Ohlone Wilderness Area.  This is a "micro" park for ultra runners.  It's more like a play ground.  Don't let that stop you from visiting this place.  You could run 2-3 hour here and not cover the same trail twice.  We had no maps of the area and had to guide our selves by the sun, the bay, and some good old fashioned common sense.

Trail Running Nirvana

Yesterday as my wife was on her way to take my 2 boys to guitar lessons in the Union City hills I asked her if I could drive for her and leave her behind.  The guitar lessons are 30 minutes and there is an awesome running trail 2 minutes away in Garin Regional Park.  My wife dropped all of us and went shopping.  I dropped my 2 boys off and went running!

I have run many times at Garin Regional/Dry Creek Park.  It's a fairly small open space preserve compared to the Ohlone Wilderness Area  of Sunol & Mission Peak Regional Parks.  But its a real gem!  Most of the trails are very gentle and can be run by beginners.  Since I am running in Vibram 5 Finger shoes, it was a perfect transition from the gravely Alameda Creek trail.  Actually, it was much easier since the gravel was not hurting my tender feet.

The trails meander across old bridges, broken down barns, open meadows, and across creeks.  The mud felt so good under my feet.  I did not have to worry about the mud getting stuck to the bottoms of my 5 fingers since I have "treadless" KSO model.  It's tread is more like a Sperry Topsider boat shoe than a beefy trail running shoe.  That is the reason why I chose this model over anything else that Vibram makes.   And yet I desire something even less aggressive.  If it were not for the gravel fire roads, I would have taken the 5 fingers off.

When I mention to people that I am running in the 5 Fingers, I get some strange looks.  I was talking with the trail Diva, Catra, of Fremont while shopping at Trader Joe's and she does not have anything positive to mention about these shoes.  She said to me that she has seen many people getting injured running barefoot and in Vibram's.  While this is truthful, I did not mention to her how many of her shoe clod running friends have running  injuries.  See my point?  Two years ago, I thought barefoot runners were insane!

I will be heading back to Garin Regional Park this Saturday as my feet are not ready for a full blown 2-3 hour trail run up Mission or Rose Peak.  Garin should be beautiful to run early in the morning.  We usually arrive an hour before sun rise.  It's supposed to be in the 70's.  It's going to be an awesome spring time run.

My Invisible Shoes (Huaraches) should be in my mail box today.  If I can get them made before the run tomorrow, I will be bringing them with too!