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Rick Roeber of Lee's Summit
Missouri set a new personal best weekly mileage on Sunday, July 2
running 103 miles for the week of June 26 - July 2. "Barefoot Rick" as so
named by his running peers hadn't ran what he calls a "notable" week
of barefoot mileage since July 2004 when he ran back to back weeks of
71 miles. "It just had not occurred to me, until this week, to try
for a new mileage personal best", stated Roeber. "I am between
marathons and it just seemed like a good idea, so I just started
running", he added. And run, he did. Roeber started the week with an 11 mile run on Monday. Tuesday through Friday, Roeber doubled his efforts and ran twice a day, once at lunch and the other in the evening after work. |
"I haven't been a morning runner
for years," he stated. "Besides, I think the heat of the day
builds more stamina and endurance, so I prefer to run when it's
hot". Roeber logged 80 miles, running nine times from Monday through Friday. This, in itself, would have been enough for Roeber to claim a new mileage personal record. However, Roeber had other plans. "I really wanted to go over the "century" mark and run over a hundred miles. I had done it a few times when I ran with shoes, but I thought it's about time I did it barefoot". Roeber completed his goal of surpassing the 100 mile mark on Saturday when the temps had reached the low 90s. On Sunday, he ran only 2.5 miles in 93 degree heat. |
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"I think I was just mentally and
physically spent after reaching my goal on Saturday," stated Roeber.
"I just didn't have a lot of "gas left in the tank on Sunday".
According to Roeber, he spent nearly 17 hours reaching his goal. "I ended up with an average of a 9:47 pace for the 103 miles. Not bad, I guess for a 50 year old". |
Roeber started running barefoot nearly
three years ago. Since then he has completed 19 barefoot marathons
(18 marathons previously with shoes) and has ran more than 6100
miles barefoot. (See
Barefoot Rick's Weekly Mileage.) For more information on barefoot running, visit Barefoot Rick's BarefootRunner.Org or Barefoot Ken Saxton's Running Barefoot.Org |
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