My 2020 Private Marathons and Ultramarathons

Running is our best medicine, and our feet are our best shoes! I’m therefore running marathons and ultramarathons—preferably barefoot—to stay healthy, fit and stronger than the COVID-19 and future pandemics, even after 65. Sadly, I had to stop again on October 29, 2020, because of the tough restrictions imposed on runners by the second French lockdown.

Humans are excellent long-distance runners thanks to our hunter-gatherer heritage. The COVID-19 comorbidities, i.e. the chronic diseases, including obesity, are sadly the result of the incompatibility between this heritage and our current way of life.

Like persistence hunting, the marathon is primarily an innate physical activity of hunter-gatherers; therefore every human can and should do it. Running is our best medicine, and our feet are our best shoes. In other words, barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body: Mens sana in corpore sano. This means, rationally speaking, that running marathons to keep one’s body mass index (BMI) on the lower side of the recommended range (18.5 kg/m2 to 24.9 kg/m2) is much more relevant than any race medal, record or ranking.

The book: Running Barefoot for Human Survival (Running Human)
Le livre : Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains (Running human)

Barefoot Runner’s Blessing and Perks

I’ve run so far 66 marathons and 3 ultramarathons in 2020, without experiencing any pain, fatigue or injury.

Sadly, I had to stop again on October 29. By the way, that shows the vocation and abilities of all humans to run marathons to stay or become fit, healthy and happy again, for free. But, first we must recover our free will, because it’s the key to understand fully what we’re going through and to do what’s good for us, before it’s too late, instead of relying naively on businesses or experts who are thriving on our extraordinary gullibility, our fears, our desperation, our chronic diseases or viral pandemics, etc.

That’s the whole point of my book: Running Barefoot for Human Survival. Find out more.

C’est tout l’intérêt de mon livre : Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains. Lire la suite.

One of the lessons that we should learn from the COVID-19 pandemic is that race cancellations can’t prevent a runner, whose purpose is only to stay fit, happy and healthy, from running even more marathons or ultramarathons, moreover, for free, at home, at the holiday destination, etc.

A further lesson is that, at the end of the day, all marathons are equal, because the distance is always and everywhere the same, i.e. 42.2 km or 26.2 miles. The only difference is that it’s undeniably more challenging and more natural, but also more rewarding, to run a marathon or a 90 km (56 miles) ultramarathon without any assistance and without a crowd of supporters, which enjoyably brings us closer to our roots as hunter-gatherers.

Running 681 km (423 miles) in a month, including 90 km (56 miles) in one day, with sneakers would cost at least a pair of them and translate into too much stress on the body. I ran 560 km (348 miles) in May and 681 km in June 2020 our ancestors’ way. All the races are documented by my GPS watch, and the details are featured on this website.

By the way, I spent a total of almost 87,000 calories. Fortunately, much less physical activity can still help to keep one’s body mass index (BMI) easily under control. In this regard, I explain in my book, Running Barefoot for Human Survival, the reasons why diets are most often failing and why long-distance running is the free and smart solution. I  also anecdotally highlight in the book that the heat of saunas does not burn fat, but rather the male gonads, wich are exiled outside the body, because they wouldn’t stand even the body temperature, i.e. 37° C or 98.6 °F.

After the easing of the 8-week lockdown that we had gone through in France, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I ran 23 marathons and two ultramarathons of 60 km and 90 km, respectively, in less than two months (May 11-June 30, 2020). The fact that we can so easily achieve that, even at 65, illustrates the non-exceptionality—not to say the banality—of long-distance running, which is meant to be one of the utmost pleasant activities for humans, and therefore a pain and injury-free experience. In other words, while running marathons is commendable, seeking recognition for just doing a trivial human activity would send the wrong message to those who are missing the best opportunity to retake control of their body mass, and to prevent or alleviate other crippling chronic diseases.

One of the crucial challenges for today’s humans is to decipher the genuine scope and benefits to long-distance running, so that they can stop relying on inefficient and lazy quick fixes, and start enjoying the privilege of running like our ancestors, i.e. barefoot or with minimal protection, when the temperatures or the nature of the ground so require. One of the positive lessons of the brutal COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting overreaction is that for those who are running for the right purpose, i.e. humbly to stay fit, happy and healthy, a marathon is a marathon, regardless whether it’s virtual, big, small, etc. And this means that race cancellations are no more a big deal, since from now on, unpretentious marathoners are enjoying the new freedom to get out with their modern GPS device to run a marathon anywhere and at any time.

As I explain in my book, running is your best medicine, and your feet are your best shoes. In other words, barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body (Mens sana in corpore sano), and the commendable duty of the runner community is to be humble and lead by example, rather than naively boasting about alleged performances, since the harsh truth is that very few humans today could reasonably claim to run as fast or as frequently as our ancestors did.

For that matter, I challenge anyone who might think otherwise to try to hunt and catch a deer like our ancestors did, that is, without using a weapon. And if you’re among those who believe that some humans have so-called speed genes, that’s good for you, because then you should definitely have them too, since all humans today, regardless of their density of melanin, are either Africans or descendants of former African migrants. Advances in genetics, or even common sense, should allow us to see more clearly in 2020, and therefore to understand easily that, as I point out in the chapter XXIV of my book, “Melanin exerts no influence on running speed.”

The following slides present the Garmin results of all my 2020 ultramarathons and marathons, but one: The 2020 Freedom Boston Marathon Against Pandemics.

I called Liberation Marathons and Liberation Ultramarathons the 63 GPS documented non-official races I ran between the first two COVID-19 lockdowns in France (from May 11, 2020, to October 29, 2020) on distances ranging from 42.2 km to 90 km.

1/210. 2020.01.21 Muscat Lonely Marathon, Oman:  5:19:28 (barefoot)
5/214. 2020.03.15 Little Barcelona Lonely Marathon, France: 5:02:08 (barefoot)
6/215. 2020.04.20 Freedom Boston Marathon Against Pandemics, France: 14:53:00 (barefoot)
7/216. 2020.05.11 Liberation Marathon # 1, France: 6:07:29
8/217. 2020.05.13 Liberation Marathon # 2, France: 4:56:27
9/218. 2020.05.14 Liberation Marathon # 3, France: 4:52:10
10/219. 2020.05.16 Liberation Marathon # 4, France: 4:50:24
11/220. 2020.05.17 Liberation Marathon # 5, France: 5:04:30
12/221. 2020.05.21 Liberation Marathon # 6, France: 5:54:14
13/222. 2020.05.23 Liberation Marathon # 7, France: 5:36:30
14/223. 2020.05.24 Liberation Marathon # 8, France: 5:27:58
15/224. 2020.05.28 Liberation Marathon # 9, France: 4:32:12
14 Ultra. 2020.05.30 Liberation Ultramarathon # 1 (60 km), France: 7:22:57
16/225. 2020.06.01 Liberation Marathon # 10, France: 5:25:00
17/226. 2020.06.03 Liberation Marathon # 11, France: 5:09:28
18/227. 2020.06.05 Liberation Marathon # 12, France: 5:16:53
19/228. 2020.06.07 Liberation Marathon # 13, France: 5:04:19
20/229. 2020.06.09 Liberation Marathon # 14, France: 4:21:01
21/230. 2020.06.10 Liberation Marathon # 15, France: 4:46:16
15 Ultra. 2020.06.14 Liberation Ultramarathon # 2 (90 km), France: 10:36:09
22/231. 2020.06.15 Liberation Marathon # 16, France: 5:47:05
23/232. 2020.06.18 Liberation Marathon # 17, France: 4:45:06 (barefoot)
24/233. 2020.06.20 Liberation Marathon # 18, France: 4:38:51
25/234. 2020.06.23 Liberation Marathon # 19, France: 4:37:56
26/235. 2020.06.26 Liberation Marathon # 20, France: 4:39:37 (barefoot)
27/236. 2020.06.28 Liberation Marathon # 21, France: 4:50:40
28/237. 2020.06.29 Liberation Marathon # 22, France: 4:53:24
29/238. 2020.06.30 Liberation Marathon # 23, France: 4:59:05
30/239. 2020.07.04 Liberation Marathon # 24, France: 5:25:44 (barefoot)
31/240. 2020.07.05 Liberation Marathon # 25, France: 4:40:59
32/241. 2020.07.08 Liberation Marathon # 26, France: 4:53:26
33/242. 2020.07.12 Liberation Marathon # 27, France: 4:35:24
34/243. 2020.07.16 Liberation Marathon # 28, France: 4:38:54
35/244. 2020.07.19 Liberation Marathon # 29, France: 4:27:30 (barefoot)
36/245. 2020.07.22 Liberation Marathon # 30, France: 4:24:46 (barefoot)
37/246. 2020.07.26 Liberation Marathon # 31, France: 4:44:07 (barefoot)
38/247. 2020.07.26 Liberation Marathon # 32, France: 4:46:52
39/248. 2020.08.02 Liberation Marathon # 33, France: 4:22:53 (barefoot)
40/249. 2020.08.05 Liberation Marathon # 34, France: 4:39:03
41/250. 2020.08.08 Liberation Marathon # 35, France: 4:37:15
42/251. 2020.08.08 Liberation Marathon # 36, France: 4:55:08
43/252. 2020.08.17 Liberation Marathon # 37, France: 4:40:33 (barefoot)
44/253. 2020.08.20 Liberation Marathon # 38, France: 4:54:02 (barefoot)
45/254. 2020.08.23 Liberation Marathon # 39, France: 4:52:42 (barefoot)
46/255. 2020.08.27 Liberation Marathon # 40, France: 4:48:43
47/256. 2020.08.29 Liberation Marathon # 41, France: 6:31:20
48/257. 2020.09:02 Liberation Marathon # 42, France: 5:11:56 (barefoot)
49/258. 2020.09:05 Liberation Marathon # 43, France: 4:55:13 (barefoot)
50/259. 2020.09:07 Boston Marathon Virtual Expeience - LM # 44, France: 4:03:54
51/260. 2020.09:09 Liberation Marathon # 45, France: 5:48:31
52/261. 2020.09:11 Liberation Marathon # 46, France: 4:38:09
53/262. 2020.09:16 Liberation Marathon # 47, France: 5:16:13
54/263. 2020.09:18 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Versailles Castle Trail (LM # 48), France: 5:35:19
55/264. 2020.09:22 Liberation Marathon # 49, France: 4:49:29 (barefoot)
56/265. 2020.09:26 Liberation Marathon # 50, France: 5:17:52
57/266. 2020.09.28 Montigny to Paris Bercy Marathon ( LM # 51), France: 5:08:51
16 Ultra. 2020.10.03 Yvelines-Paris Race Against the COVID-19/LUM # 3, France: 5:29:12
60/269. 2020.10.15 Montigny to the Statue of Liberty Marathon/My Liberation Marathon # 54, France: 4:50:10
61/270. 2020.10.17 Virtual New York Marathon Against Pandemics/My Liberation Marathon # 55, France: 5:37:40
62/271. 2020.10.19 SQY Park Marathon/My Liberation Marathon # 56, France: 3:55:12
63/272. 2020.10.23 My Liberation Marathon # 57, France: 4:40:33 (barefoot)
64/273. 2020.10.26 My Liberation Marathon # 58, France: 4:39:18
65/274. 2020.10.28 My Liberation Marathon # 59, France: 5:23:02
66/275. 2020.10.29 My Liberation Marathon # 60, France: 4:39:30