Barefoot in a Port-a-potty / 10k Race Report

I ran the Go Green St. Patrick's Day 10k in Los Gatos, California yesterday.

It was a slightly chilly  morning and my feet felt a little numb as I walked up the road to the packet pickup area. I picked up my race number and shirt and walked around to warm up my feet.  The line for the bathrooms was long, so I jogged up the hill adjacent to the starting line and looked for... a bush of some kind.  I didn't find any that were suitably secluded so I jogged back down the hill and waited in line.  I considered getting my flip-flops out of my car to enter the Port-a-Potty but reasoned that: 1) I didn't have enough time to go back to my car and 2) Really, is a Port-a-Potty floor that had just been placed there that morning that much potentially hazardous than the sidewalks and streets I have run on before? Probably not. So yes... I was barefoot in a Port-a-Potty.

Anyway, on to the race. I lined up and waited for the race to start. There was a sea of green shirts, tutus, hats, and even a guy wearing the Irish flag as a cape. We started off slightly crowded but that was completely a non-issue by the 1/2 mile mark. We were running on the paved roads of Vasona Lake Park and soon were on the surrounding streets, which were relatively smooth and not a problem at all for my soles.  A few people commented amongst themselves at my bare feet but no one came up to ask me about it. The first four miles were mostly a gently downhill and the last 2.2 were a slight uphill. Not a tough course from a hill standpoint, which is probably why I was able to pull a personal best time of 56:54.  I was elated to find that out after crossing the line with a time of 1:07:15, not realizing that the clock was from the start of the Half that was running the same day and had started 10 minutes before the 10k.

A woman taking the timing chip ankle straps at the finish line asked if my feet were Ok. I gave her an enthusiastic "Yep!" and picked up my awesome medal and headed home.

I don't have any race pictures to share because I look like I am having a serious, possibly heart-attack inducing time and not a fun time, which it was.