My FiveFingers

A fan site all about Minimalist Running, Barefoot running, and Healthy Living!

Join the Community

Search

Losing Weight with Vibram FiveFingers – Part 5

by Steven Shipowitz » on Apr 20, 2011 0

This is part 4 in a mini-series by Steve Shipowitz (@stevenship) on his endeavor to lose weight, which led him to discovering ‘Born to Run‘ and Vibram FiveFingers.  You can read part 1 of the series herepart 2 herepart 3 here, and part 4 here.

Runners to the starting line…..

There are five words I never thought I would hear and then actually take action on: “Runners to the starting line.”  I have been to races to support friends, but never to actually run myself. The time is now early November and at this point I have logged about 50 miles of running and have lost almost 31 pounds. Our office weight loss challenge is wrapping up and I am in the lead. My VFFs and running are second nature and at this point, three other co-workers have purchased VFFs as well. Yes, we can wear FiveFingers to work; I work at a video production company and the dress code is very casual.

My first race is scheduled for November 14. On November 3rd I run 3.09 miles with just normal effort in just more than 31 minutes, so I am ready to go! The Bikila’s are holding up well and there have not been any more pebble attacks. At this point, I don’t want a good time in the race; I just want to finish strong. November 9th is another good day of running, as I go 3.11 in 33 minutes. Okay, I am not setting the running world on fire, but I can handle the distance. I spend the next week maintaining my eating routine and running just enough to keep me ready to go. Although it is only a 5K, I actually taper off a bit as not to burn out.

It’s November 13, the day before the race. I have lost 33 pounds and I am just full of nervous energy. A cousin of mine, whom I am very close with, is a runner and he has been advising me along the way. He tells me to just go for a short quick run the day before the race to settle my nerves. I decide I will just run a mile and see how fast I can do it. I go out and run an 8:32 mile; again, not setting the world on fire, but not too shabby for a guy who is 46 years old and weighs 175 pounds. Needless to say, the night before the race I do not sleep well. I have set my clothes out, I know what my routine will be in the morning, but I am as nervous as a long tail cat at a rocking chair contest. I just want to finish and I don’t want to die during the race, pretty simple goals. My entire family joins me for my race. I am nervous, emotional and ready to get this over with! I look around and don’t see any other VFFs, but needless to say people are looking at mine.

They gather all of us up, there are about 300 runners, 277 to be exact (there’s that competitive nature of mine). The horn sounds and we are off. I come out much more quickly than I thought I would, passing many people along the way. After about a mile, I settle in and I feel great. I decide that I will chase people during the race, in other words, use them as rabbits. The problem, I keep catching my rabbits and have to get new ones. After the halfway point I am feeling great and start to think, “not only am I going to finish, but also I am going to be much faster than expected.” Right before I left, I told my wife to be ready with the camera at the finish line and I would be back in about 30 minutes. I can now see the end in sight and I am still moving fairly quickly. I am looking for my family, but cannot see them. There it is, the finish line, but still no family, which means no picture.

I finish in 27:45! The VFFs feel great, no pebble attacks and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. My wife did not get the picture, she said, “You finished too fast, I wasn’t ready.” My kids were in the home stretch and tried to tell her, but it was too late. She did say I had a look of exuberance as I crossed the line. I finished 82 overall; it was a good day. And I definitely enjoyed the post race meal/reward….pizza!

In the next installment, we are going to fast forward…….


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.