Talk about taking the minimalist trend to the extreme.
At last Saturday’s Baltimore Marathon, Keith Levasseur ran a remarkable time of 2 hours and 46 minutes while wearing, not sneakers, but flip flops—either this guy can't afford a pair of new kicks, or he's really trying to prove a point here.
What’s even more impressive is that Levasseur, who’s a member of Marlyand’s Howard County Striders, was just 10 minutes off his personal best of 2:38—which he ran in more traditional footwear.
"I had every intention of sticking to the race plan of finishing a little under 3:00, so my initial pace starting out was 6:40-6:50 [per mile]," Levasseur told Runner's World Newswire. "After a few miles, I decided I go with whatever pace I could comfortably run, even if it was faster than my target pace. I know there are some decent hills later in the race and I didn't know how I would be doing from a time perspective at that point, so I gave myself some wiggle room by letting go on the downhills and cruising in the low 6:00's."
While Levasseur’s feat was definitely impressive, we at Sneaker Report don’t recommend his strategy to the average runner. Not surprisingly, Levasseur said the balls of his feet were in pain do to the obvious lack of padding and support offered by flip flips.
We wonder if he'll go all out and run completely barefoot in his next race.
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