By the time Zach McCardel was running this year’s Tough Mudder, barefoot, there were moments he realized that running without shoes gave him a clear advantage. McCardel didn’t have to duct tape footwear to his ankles for fear he’d lose shoes in the thick mud trenches. And he responded to those buried obstacles barefoot, where others contenders followed suit behind him.
This is McCardel’s third year running barefoot, and he’s taking on a historic challenge on August 9. Johnny Appleseed’s 200th Anniversary run will take him close to 54 miles round trip from Mansfield, to Mount Vernon, and back again.
The event will start at 6 p.m. on the square in downtown Mansfield near the Johnny Appleseed’s Run For Reinforcements Ohio Historical Marker.
McCardel himself is from Mount Vernon, and embodies the kind of spirit he said was to “do it his own way.” As a high school sprinter, he knew he was capable of being a runner, but it wasn’t until his sister challenged him to a Warrior Dash that he considered running seriously again.
During his second Warrior Dash, he decided he would run barefoot, and has continued that way ever since, even in winter.
“A lot of it is mental, when you get into these long distances,” he said. “All the factors add up.”
McCardel has faced the sport of running, with personal bests, like running two marathons in two days. McCardel took on his first 2012 Marathon, barefoot, “On Your Own 2 Feet”, a movement to assist domestic violence shelters in Summit and Portage County. It was a hybrid race, part road, part trail, and part bike trail. The following day, he finished even stronger.
In his second 2012 Marathon, he competed in shoes because of the previous day’s blisters, and McCardel finished even stronger.
McCardel claimed, “I may not be very fast, but can I run the distances.”
In the course of his first year running, he upped the distance to an ultra-marathon barefoot in the Cuyahoga Valley. The 31 mile run was “a tough course, actually” said McCardel, “for being barefoot anyway.”
On the subject of trail running, he said, “It gets so tough just finishing, even if it is last place, you’re still a hero.”
McCardel works at Sport N Shoes, designing artwork for t-shirts, books and other athletic goods. His company primarily sells athletic shoes to schools, and said “It’s kind of funny, I’m not selling shoes per-say, but once a cross-country coach and her runners said they didn’t know they needed shoes.”
McCardel, at the time, made no comment about whether or not they needed shoes.
And it just happened that he heard about the Johnny Appleseed barefoot run last fall. McCardel became the perfect candidate, as a barefoot runner and a Mount Vernon resident as well. “We will repeat the trip as close as we can figure,” he stated.
“A lot of people see me doing longer distances, and sometimes there is a significant amount of pain,” said McCardel. But there are those who have seen what he’s doing, and they say “I want to run distances now.” McCardel said, “Those are the people who inspire me.”
The route from Mansfield to Mount Vernon is an all-road route, close to 54 miles in total distance, and not much elevation. “Still, it is 54 miles any way you slice it,” he said.
A group of runners, with shoes, will also be accompanying McCardel on the historic run that second weekend in early August. McCardel has encouraged those runners to make a monetary or a food donation to Mid-Ohio Food Bank, in honor of Johnny Appleseed and his charitable giving.
Two-hundred years ago on August 9, a handful of guys in the Mansfield area were attacked. Most got away, but shop owner Levi Jones had fallen, and a group of Native Americans murdered him near the Blockhouse. With witnesses there, Johnny Appleseed volunteered to run for reinforcements, and continued running throughout the night. During the War of 1812, a 32-month military conflict, these particular events took place in the year 1813. The barefoot run will commemorate the local history in our area, “200 years to the day” said McCardel.
A map to the run route:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/mansfield-oh/johnny-appleseed-run-route-171909746
