Last post on this…

Hi GoodLife, I know you have been checking in on me. Please call me. I would love to have a talk with you about your policy, my reasons why I run barefoot, and maybe, just possibly, we could come up with an understanding. I actually like your gym, the equipment works and the place is pretty clean, so I would like to carry on using the place for my cold weather running days. I would really love to go barefoot on the treadmill though.

Feel free to ask me questions, quiz me on all things barefoot, you might decide, I am pretty good guy, and not a poop disturber.

I had a great run on your treadmill tonight, and not wanting to cause any trouble, I wore my Five Finger monkey shoes. You might wonder why those aren’t barefoot enough for me. Do you wonder that? Well, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – If you are wearing shoes of any sort, it is not barefoot running.

I was hoping my membership in your gym would go to good use in keeping up my foot fitness that I so painstakingly built up over the summer, and I don’t want to lose this ‘footness’, if you will. My marathon is on May 1st, and as you know, there still may be freezing temps and snow on the ground right up till then, and I really don’t want to have ‘soft’ feet for my first 42.2k run. As you know, confidence is a big part of distance running, and it would help my confidence greatly if I had a lot of barefoot miles  under my soles prior to the race.

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me, I promise I won’t take up much of your time, and if you say no, I will respect that and cause no waves for you.

Take care and Good Fitness,

Barefoot Neil Z,

(Email me at nzeller at shaw dot ca, and I will email you my telephone number)

Moving on.

Did not hear from Goodlife Fitness. You know what, I have no desire to battle them. Not them, it’s not worth it in the big picture. I had a good 9.24k run outside today. Maybe I’ll find one of the indoor tracks that will let me run barefoot every couple weeks, just to keep up my footness… AhhAA Josh, I made up a barefoot word!!!

so that’s it. On to positive energy things!

What is one thing in your life that you could replace with positive energy things?

Got told NO!

So there I was, minding my own business on treadmill # 3, listening to podcasts on my iPhone when the young lady at the counter comes walking toward me. She make eye contact. I avoid eye contact and keep running. She gets closer and makes a motion to take out my Yurbuds. I avoid eye contact. She is standing right front of the mill waving at me.

I relent.

She tells me to stop running. Why? I ask. She says I can’t run barefoot. Why not? I ask. She says you just can’t. Is there a rule? I ask. She says yes. Show it to me. I say. She says ok, but please stop running.

I relent.

I slip my flips back on and walk over to the desk. She and another woman tell me I can’t run barefoot. Why not? I ask again. It’s the rules they say. Show me, I ask.

Well, I’m pretty sure it’s in the contract. OK, show me then, I say. They sort of ignore me for a bit while they flip through the contract and shuffle some papers. The second lady comes back and says it’s a health issue. Show me where it says it’s a health issue. Well what if you have *-----* on your feet, and it gets on the treadmill, we can’t have that now can we. What about the locker room, I ask. Well, you are supposed to wear flips in there. Show me, I say. Then the first girl says it’s a safety issue, that you could catch your toe on the edge and there would be blood everywhere. Uh, ok. There are a thousand ways to injure yourself in a gym, and I’m pretty sure I signed a waiver when I signed up.

So. They pull out this MASSIVE book and tell me they are POSITIVE the rule that requires me to wear shoes in this gym is in there somewhere, but they can’t take the time to find it today. Ok, look it up and let me know tomorrow.

I left my email, telephone number and blog address.

I went and changed into my vibrams and went to wait for another mill as my got stolen as I was getting scolded.

Ok, they are worried about my health or the health of others. I won’t walk barefoot in the change room, are you freaking kidding? At least the treadmill has shod runners on it! haha! And if they were so worried about the health and safety of us patrons, they wouldn’t have a shared floor and drain trough in the showers…

If they don’t get back to me by tomorrow like they promised, I am going to go for a barefoot run there, because obviously they have no problem with it.

I personally think, they just decided that this CAN’t be right and there must be a rule somewhere. My question is… Aren’t the Yoga classes all barefoot?

Seems like a pretty solid double standard!

I won’t say the name of the gym, but i’ll give you a hint. It starts with a ‘G’ and ends in a ‘oodlife Fitness McKenzie town’.

That’s all I have to say about that. For now. Dammit. Does this make me a zealot?

Just the facts vol.1 epsiode 1

My Contests :

Gu – Ryders – Road ID – Road ID

2 Tech Shirts

Great week of running, except for the part where I actually froze my Ass. Highlights include TKO conditioning clinic with Pete Estabrooks. Lowlights include finding out a good friend has Cancer and is starting treatments on Thursday at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale on Thursday. Lots of prayers for our ‘Energizer Bunny’ please.

Just the Facts Feature Blogger of the Week is:

***Melanie at Half Marathon Rookie.***

Melanie has a great blog, based in Ohio, and she wants to run a half in under 2 hours this year! Melanie is having a procedure at the hospital on Tuesday that will help fix a heart issue she is dealing with, so go on over, follow her great blog and give her some blog love to help put a smile on her face!

Also, My Lovely wife Traci is making custom jewellery and would like to show off some of her creations. You can see her work at her Etsy shop as well as on her Facebook page. She is happy to make custom pieces for a special occasions! Take a look, ‘Like’ her Jewellery page on facebook to keep up to date on her new creations! Here is what is known as a ‘Barefoot Sandal’.. cool! These are very popular for beach weddings.

Just another teaser…

And finally, not sure if I have shared this photo before, but it’s handy right on my desktop now, soooo… enjoy!

Really, what HASN't happened in the last 15 or so days…

First off… I like this.

And with regards to that, I just wanted to say:

I appreciate you, you internet people! (and the local runners who frequent this blog). I mean it. I gain so much inspiration, knowledge and perspective, as well as a high dose of LOL from you, that I just couldn’t stay away any longer. So I’m back. I am making no promises to keep up a daily blog, but I will blog when I feel like it. It may be every day for a stretch, and I may be off for a week at a time. If you come one here and read a bit, or read a lot, feel free to leave a comment or click follow. If you have a blog or an email attached to your comment I always make sure to go check out your stuff too! That’s all I have to say about that.

Ok, I froze my ass tonight. literally. I wore my Nathan belt out for a scheduled 13k run and the right bottle leaked out ever so slowly onto my butt cheek for the first 40 minutes until I stopped for a walk to GU and have a drink and I noticed that my coat and running pants were a popsicle on the right butt-tock. I came home after a fail attempt to continue and sat on a heating pad for a half hour. I am ok. That’s all I have to say about that.

I ran a crazy race a week ago. The Calgary Roadrunners host a series of cross country races throughout the winter. This was my first one and boy did I pick a doozy. Sooooo cold. Even for here. Do I look frightened?

Yeah. I am frightened. I couldn’t believe how much harder the distance was in the snow, cold and hills. Probably double the effort required. Tough stuff. I used this race as my entry into the FYTO5k that Adam held, but he didn’t want me in his race, and then he tried to make up for it by editing the blog results after I quizzed him about it on Twitter a couple days later… it’s ok, I remember this stuff. Revenge is a dish best served cold… So is Cake, so there is that. Here is the video I took at the race. That’s all I have to say about that.

I was finally tagged with the Stylish Blogger Award. No thanks to you North America. I am person too you know, I like to play these blogger info award deals and did any of you tag ME? Nope… so… my new favourite blogger is Staci from She Runs in Sandals. She is from South Africa, and if anyone knows a stylish blog, it’s the South Africans. You all Pretty much know the rules by now.

Thank the person who awarded you.

Thanks Staci! YOU ROCK!

Tell 7 things about you:

1. I am no longer reading North American blogs. You know who you are. UPDATE! Craig from Here we go Again saved Christmas… He tagged me on Jan 11th and I Missed it. Egg on my face. I now read North American Blogs again!
2. when I was 16, I was picked second last in dodgeball once. The guy in the wheelchair broke his hand earlier that week.
3. When I was 9 and 10, I had my Halloween Candy bag stolen 2 years in a row. By the same guy. On the same street. My friends didn’t share with me. twice.
4. When I was 12, I had a baseball coach tell me to go halfway from third to guard against the bunt from the guy who was hitting 1.000 on the season. I got hit by a line drive below my nose and above my teeth. I woke up 20 minutes later with a lip that stuck out past my nose.
5. I once played in a Hockey game where there were so many fights going on at once that the Zamboni driver was sent out to try and clear everyone off the ice. We needed a police escort out of town.
6. I have I big regret from High School. I was asked by a teacher to help out in a social experiment, where I was to act unruly to her and then finally FREAK out, curse, swear, slam stuff around and then STORM out of the classroom, slamming the door off the hinges. I chickened out at the last minute and basically ruined the experiment by acting out very meekly, whispering some stuff and walking out of the room. To this day I soooo wish I would have gone ALL OUT! It’s probably one of the reasons I never say no to a fun event in front of a crowd anymore. And I NEVER regret going all out, ever! I also once turned down a one in two chance at a Lazy Boy Recliner. I would’ve had to go out onto the ice at a Calgary Flames game in front of 17,000 people and play musical chairs with one other guy. The winner won the recliner. As soon as I said no, I kicked myself. I knew I betrayed myself, and since then, ask my wife, I never miss an opportunity to get in front of people. You know what? Someone is going to do it, and it might as well be me. It is all experiences. The next time you see someone up front, think about how you feel about that person while you sit in the audience. Does that make it seem easier? People are just people… everywhere.
7. I enjoyed the comments I got during my countdown blogs last week. They made me laugh.

Ok, Tag 7 people… Nah. I got picked last, so there is no one left. Is there? Email me a nzeller at shaw dot ca if I should tag you. That’s all I have to say about that. Update! I Tag LAURA At My Reason To RUN!

I have started my Marathon Training in Earnest. I love it. I have been to the gym a couple times to run barefoot on the treadmill. 14.75 k one day and 8k 2 days later. My feet felt quite abraded. The belt is moving, and I am following it. There is a point where the foot lands and no matter what kind of running style you have, there is a moment of scuffing when you catch up to the belt. that is why the belt is so shiny in the middle. I’ll run on there again, because the abrading causes me to really think about my form, as the quicker my cadence the less abrasion. So that’s all good. The only other problem I see with the mill is that it gets incredibly HOT after an hour or so. I am sure you have felt the warmth through your shoes. It’s HOT when barefoot. I am really looking forward to my BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 1st. That day is International barefoot day too! How cool!  That’s all I have to say about that.

I also started, on the advice of my coach at www.marathon-trainingschedule.com, to ditch all drinks in my life, in favor of water only. I have no problem with the plan except for giving up coffee. I was miserable for the first few days, and now I am just downright mad. It feels like quitting smoking, and quitting smoking was one of the reasons I gained so much weight starting 13 years ago. I am finding myself replacing coffee with ice cream and chocolate easter bunnies. I can’t lie to you, I broke down and had a coffee this afternoon. It was either that or a bowl of ice cream. That’s all I have to say about that. 

I had a redonkulous fun time at Pete Estabrooks TKO Conditioning Clinic he demo’d at the Calgary Fitness Expo on Saturday. Here are the video results of that day. I had a very high level of DOMS on Sunday, and am not looking forward to Today. Boxing conditioning is hard. The video has a funny ending.

  

Ok, so, that is the ‘Pink Chick’ punching me out at the event… gawd I’m a wuss. That’s all I have to say about that.

I have 3 contests running right now.

This one

This one

And this one on my Barefoot Neil Z fan page on facebook. As of 00:13 on Monday morning, I need 3 more ‘likes’.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Road ID, GU, Ryders and Road ID… You can win it all!

Part 1: Ok, you all know I LOVE my GU, right? Do you know why I love my GU? No? Well then, I'll tell you.

because it works. every time. When I head out on a long run, I don’t have to think about my energy needs, as I always have a pack or two of GU Gels or Chomps in my tote. I really can’t say enough about the little pack of go-gel, it has sort of become my security blanket.

Here is how I use my GU:

1. Any runs from 5k to 10k, I take along a GU with me, and If I feel the need, I GU. Sometimes at the start.
2. Any runs from 10-15k, I GU at least once, at the 40 minute mark, and depending on the type of run, maybe a second GU at the 1:20 mark
3. Any runs over 15k, I GU 15 minutes before the run, then every 40 minutes from the start of the race.

In my experience it takes about 6-8 minutes for me to feel the affects. Maybe it’s a placebo effect, but who cares if it keeps me running, right?

My tip regarding the end of a race is, if I have a GU scheduled on my 40 minute plan, but I only have 3 or less Km’s to go, I GU anyway. I have experienced the results both ways, and I will always GU on schedule based on a couple of really dramatic drops in energy I experienced with 1k to go in a couple important races.

I like Chomps too, However Gels are my Go-To goodness when racing and training. I have actually used Chomps for other kinds of workouts like Hiking and regular gym type workouts (less messy when I can take my time eating them). Additionally, I drink GU2O when I carry fluids for runs over 1.5hrs. Anything less and I just carry water.

The winner of this contest will get a big pile of GU!

Part 2: OK, You all know I LOVE my Ryders Eyewear right? Do you know why I love my Ryders Eyewear? No? Well, I’ll tell you.

Because they are cool, and they work. If I leave my HEX Ryders at home by accident, my day is pretty much shot. One of my biggest reasons to get my eyes lasered 2 years ago was to be able to wear Sunglasses. I had tried Oakleys, Bolles and various other brands, but when I received my Hex’s, I knew I was done looking. I always thought you needed to buy really expensive sunglasses to a: be cool and b: be comfortable and c: protect me from the sun harmful rays. Nope, wrong. for 40 bucks, I get as good a pair of sunglasses that I have owned. (Including my Irridium Blades from 1989).

The winner of this contest will also get a pair of Ryder Hex Sunglasses!

Part 3: You all know I love my Road ID, right? Do you know why I love my Road ID? No? Well I’ll tell you.

Because it is the single item I can put on my persons that give me the most peace of mind. I mean, I could carry my licence, but that doesn’t give any of the info that responders need RIGH NOW if I drop.

I wear my ankle ID everywhere I go, that I am working out or running.  Spend the money, order yours today. It’s the one Item I carry with me everywhere I go. DO IT. (you have been font-shouted, so now you are obligated.

The winner of this contest ALSO gets a certificate for your very own Road ID.

Part 4: You all know I LOVE socks, right? Really, you didn’t know that? I thought I told you that. um, what’s that? yeah, I know I go barefoot. But I can still love socks can’t I? I’ll have you know that the thing I miss most since I started barefooting, is a good fitting pair of socks. It’s true. I was a Sock snob when I wore shoes. You know, I had to have socks that were left and right specific. I did! the best ones were the ones that sort of ‘snapped’ into place they were fitted so well. Well, these are pretty nice, and they can be yours!

The Winner of this contest ALSO gets a pair of Road ID socks.

You all know I LOVE having you enter my contests, right? Yes? Thought so. Here’s how.

Do this first one or none of the others count - Follow me, Officially, over there on the left <----. See? If not, scroll up or down, you’ll find it. Click on Follow me!  Leave a comment that you did, or you already do.

Ok the rest of the entry opportunities are as follows

1. Follow Road ID, GU Energy Labs and Ryders Eyewear on Facebook – 1 comment each, 1 entry each
2. Follow Road ID and GU Energy Labs on Twitter - 1 comment each, 1 entry each
3. Go to Road ID and tell my what you would buy with your winnings – 1 comment, 1 entry
4. Go to GU Energy Labs and tell me what is one of the new flavors for 2011 – 1 comment, 1 entry
5. Go to Ryders Eyewear and tell me the name of 1 of the 3 Ryder sponsored RUNNING athletes – 1 comment, 1 entry
6. Follow me on Facebook – 1 comment, 1 entry
7. Follow me on Twitter – 1 comment, 1 entry
8. Tweet this contest – 1 comment, 1 entry

Road ID, GU, Ryders and Road ID… You can win it all! http://nblo.gs/d3O8L @NeilZee

9.   Tell everyone you know online about this contest, 1 comment for each way, 1 entry for each way

Contest runs until Jan 25th!

Oh yeah, do separate comments too, Like Angie Bee did as shown below.  Then I don’t have to guess how many entries you do or don’t have. If you put all your answers in one comment, I’ll take 1 entry away from you and give one to everyone else. So there.

 

ok… I’m back

1

Ok. I’m back. Awesome Contest Blog tonight. Check back! Full on Bloggerini tomorrow! Lots to tell.

In the mean time, it’s been cold. Here is a couple pictures and a video of the Calgary Roadrunners Cross Country race I attended last Saturday, which gives you an idea how cold it is/was/is. Those of you who follow me on Facebook have seen these. So good for you. The rest of you can follow here! You don’t have to love me, you just have to ‘LIKE’ me!

 

Thanks Dawn Henry for this photo… that’s cool isn’t it?