Woburn's barefoot runner races for a cause

Woburn, MA -  

It all started because his fiancée’s feet were hurting one day last year.

Since then, Tim Bourassa of Woburn has logged hundreds of miles throughout the commonwealth and beyond running marathons, half-marathons and footraces in a rather unorthodox fashion – barefoot.

“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it,” says the Prospect Street resident, who earlier this month raised $2,600 for the National Down Syndrome Society during a barefoot race that ended at Woburn’s Irish American Club. “Let your feet breathe, you know?”

Bourassa, 39, and his fiancée, Melissa Nelson, are both members of the Shamrock Running Club in Woburn and were participating in a race last year when Nelson decided to remove her shoes because her feet hurt.

“So the next couple days I went barefoot around the pond in Woburn, just walking, then decided I wanted to see if I could do a 5K race in Lowell,” he says.

He did. Then came another race, then another, until he had notched some 30 or 40 unshod sojourns, including 19 miles of the Steamtown Marathon in Pennsylvania.

This month’s run began in Williamstown May 4 and ended in Woburn four days and 138 miles later as a fund-raiser for the Down Syndrome Society. Nelson’s brother Scott, 34, who attended Woburn High, has Down syndrome, and now lives in Erie, Pa., with his parents.

Near the end, Bourassa was greeted by 7-year-old Samantha Gibbs of Reading, who also has Down syndrome and who wanted to present him with something she thought he might need: Band-Aids. She is the daughter of Rob and Lisa Gibbs, who founded Samantha’s Harvest, a non-profit group that supports individuals with Down syndrome and their families.

“When we pulled up, Samantha jumped out of the car and gave Tim a big hug,” Lisa Gibbs says. “It was great and very emotional. It was a great honor to meet someone so passionate and we all felt as though we had a made a friend for life.”

And yes, Band-Aids can be useful to barefoot runners as their sport can take a toll – in blood blisters, cuts and other injuries.

“You have to get accustomed to it, then your feet finally adapt,” Bourassa says. “Your foot turns into like a jellied, calloused foot that almost has its own padding. It’s like I have my own orthotic, my own Dr. Scholl’s insert on my foot.”

Barefoot running also requires commitment. “You have to do it continuously, every other day or two days, so they (the feet) stay tough,” adds Bourassa, who puts on shoes like sandals or flip-flops only when he enters a store or restaurant.

He says he prefers nothing to traditional running shoes. “It’s pretty disgusting if you’ve ever smelled your sneakers,” Bourassa says. “It’s like sticking your feet into this wasteland.”

Bourassa plans additional barefoot runs this summer, including the June 20 Mt. Washington Road Race in New Hampshire, a half-marathon in Boston next month and the Mohawk Trail Marathon in the fall. Another race to benefit the Down Syndrome Society is also possible in Falmouth this August.

His neighbors have become accustomed to seeing him do his practice runs sans footware.

He’s the guy driving the car with the stickers of footprints running all over it.

For more information, go to Bourassa's Web site, www.barefootrunner.net.