flip flop man

really good article! He must have some pretty powerful demons running through his mind.

any other runners here ever seen or ran with him before?

That is awesome. I've seen a guy that I call the Homeless Running Dude on a trail near me. Usually in a hooded sweatshirt, even when 90 and humid in the summer. Runs at a walking kind of pace, but seems to do it for hours and very regularly. I wonder if they are related.

"Larry Perrier, the Flip-Flop Man of the Pinellas Trail, says his best year was 1995, when he totaled about 12,000 miles."

230mpw...shouldn't this guy be throwing down at least a 28:00 10k?

I was running on the Pinellas trail when the flip flop man was training and he ran up to me and asked if he could run with me. He is a nice guy. I tried to convince him to run in real running shoes but he said he preferred flip flops. I thougt he was just trying out the flip flop style until I saw him running in the St. Pete Beach classic. He runs with flip flops and a towel fashioned as a cape..Really!

I saw the title of this thread and thought it was about Mitt Romney. Oops.

whats this guys PR? he sounds pretty cool from the story!

i found these results:

2003, 800m, 2:42, 59 years old

http://forerunnerstrackclub.tripod.com/0803raceresults.htm

2002, 1mile, 6:32, 58 years old

http://forerunnerstrackclub.tripod.com/0602raceresults.htm

not bad for being in late 50's and in flip flops!

Must have some really strong ass feet!

If those results are correct, do you think the claims about him training at 5 minute pace are incorrect? I sure do.

yeah, you have to take it with a grain of salt. the thing about the 12,000 miles might not be right either.

first of all the guy may not be one to cross all his t's and dot his i's. there's a few screws loose there. pick your metaphor.

and the interviewer i don't think is big into running either, so he may have overlooked a few things. i mean, maybe his bike speedometer wasn't calibrated.

but look at the picture of the guy in the article. he's older, he's fit, obviously runs a lot, he runs with a stick and no shirt. is seen in random places around the county and beyond at all hours..

...and he runs in flip flops...

...good stuff...

Give this guy an Espy!

He certainly beats the crap out of Dean Karnazes, all he needs is a marketing program.

I think Letsrun should sponsor him. We'll pay for his flip-flops and a pound of sugar a day.

This guy is the ultimate cheap runner.

people who complain about white flour should read this...guy eats pounds of sugar and is in great shape in his 60s

I saw a guy going up the Grousse Grind; a pretty steep 3km climb up a mountain in Vancouver; in flip flops. ANy Vancouver guys ever see this?

That was Bomba, but he was only doing that because he was at the beach burning his pasty skin and someone told him that there was free Budweiser at the top of Grouse Mountain.

If letsrun ever plans to sponsor a runner, this guy HAS to be the first. Not only would he sign the cheapest sponsorship contract ever, but he would be a living representation of many things that are promoted, practiced and celebrated for better or worse on this board:

a)Minimalism: To hell with racing flats, flip flops it is.

b)Blue collar: Dude not only runs in boxers, flip flops, sombreros and collared shirts, but he eats pure sugar. To top it all off, he is unemployed. THAT is following the dream.

c)Die hard: 12,000 miles in one year is nuts. And you think lightning scares him?

"When it's your time to die, you will die." Awesome.

d)Trolling/Insulting overweight people: "We'll run together. I sometimes run with people even more overweight than you."

I bet this guy would sign on for minimal cash, 500 pairs of flip flops, 1000 lbs of sugar and a supply boxers and sombreros with letsrun logos.

pillowcase wrote: any other runners here ever seen or ran with him before?

"Drummers" whose blood pressure rises thirty points whenever someone mentions a shoe model, and who we now know runs in west-central Florida, has:

I read the article after it filtered through the Austrlian Internet System, which translates to Australian slang (We call Flip Flops, Thongs)..funny article for me ;-)!

Tedjo wrote:

That is awesome. I've seen a guy that I call the Homeless Running Dude on a trail near me. Usually in a hooded sweatshirt, even when 90 and humid in the summer. Runs at a walking kind of pace, but seems to do it for hours and very regularly. I wonder if they are related.

You don't happen to live in northern Virginia, do you?

There's a guy who matches that description that runs along the GW Parkway several times a day.