He's Run 266 Marathons BAREFOOT - His Name is Barefoot Todd: Part I

It's funny who you run into while running a marathon. This past Sunday in Frederick, Maryland I had the opportunity to cross paths, with the closest thing to a marathon celebrity – he goes by the name, Barefoot Todd. Here’s his web site http://barefoottodd.com/. 

He and I converged on a water station at around mile 21 of the 26.2 race we were both running, and we ran together for the next three miles or so (see accompanying photos) before I couldn’t keep up with his pace and I fell behind.
The amazing thing about Barefoot Todd - I don't know his last name despite multiple Google searches - is that he has run 266 marathons, all of them barefoot. I saw signs at last year's Frederick Marathon congratulating him on his 250th race au naturel, which is when I first heard of him.  I don't know about you, but I have trouble stepping on cold linoleum first thing in the morning let alone gravely, sun-scorched asphalt.


During that three-mile stretch together, I had the pleasure to “interview” him as we ran – I guess the ex-journalist in you never dies even running a marathon when the outside thermostat is set on "HELL."  Regardless, I’ll post some of our conversation tomorrow. For now, suffice to say that those 30 minutes we ran together made all the weeks and miles of isolated training worthwhile.