Lantern Pike and barefoot training

Saturday was Hayfield Country Day, which means Lantern Pike Fell Race. I've only done this once, as Mrs Noel normally bagsies it, leaving me holding the children. This year we had a few offers of people to watch the kids, so we could both run. We both did fairly well. I was 6th, behind only one of the excellent trio of pacers/markers: Nick, Mark and Steve. Mrs Noel was second ahead of some fairly strong competition. Unfortunately, Mrs Noel missed the prize-giving, so I decided she would have wanted three bottles of strong ale.

Then today (Sunday) we went to Trentham Gardens and I started my barefoot training in earnest. Lots of runners sing the praises of barefoot running and it's become quite an "in" thing to do. There are even barefoot shoes, which are much more expensive than normal running shoes as it takes time for them to remove all the padding at the factory.

So when I saw that Trentham Gardens was home to Britain's "first and only" barefoot walk, I jumped at the chance. Here are a selection of the various surfaces we stood on. These are the feet of me and my mum. I say this in case there are any foot double talent scouts out there wanting to sign us up.

Not bad:

Urggh:

Ow:

Nice to gritty transition:

I feel sure my feet and whole body and now invigorated in a life-enhancing way that I can't quite describe. If you're ever visiting Trenham Hall - it's worth a go, and there are foot showers at the end.