“Suddenly he is the minority and being nude isn’t such an awkward thing.” “Typically, a runner who chooses to remain clothed is more uncomfortable in a group when everyone else is nude,” says Horn. Racers range from 60-year-olds with extra padding to competitive athletes who shave everything. “I enjoy being out there and breaking the rules.” “Running nude is very freeing,” says Dunham. So far, he’s been to the top of 40 states and done 10 of them in his birthday suit. Dunham remains a competitive runner on the masters circuit and is currently attempting to summit the highest peak in every state.

They have hosted world-class athletes such as Dave Dunham, 47, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, 2000 USATF Mountain Runner of the Year, who says, “I’ve only done a handful of nude races, but there is something edgy about running nude when you’ve been clothed your whole life.”Īlthough Dunham ran his first nude race (one of the Butts’ down in South Carolina) to accrue points in a point-based competition put on by a local running magazine, the Hockomock Swamp Rat (the competition ran every three years between 20 and spanned the entire year), he’s not shy about admitting he enjoyed it. The Butts boast a competitive series, and at the finish line you can expect visible time clocks and age-group awards. Says Gary Butts, “We hear many people come back and tell us they weren’t embarrassed, because it was such a relaxed atmosphere and no one cares who’s got what.” Sue and Gary Butts (no joke!), directors of the North Carolina-based B.A.R.E (Butts-A’Runnin Race Enterprises) series, which boasts eight clothing-optional events from South Carolina to Vermont, have seen participation in their eight events double since 1999. With nude events spanning the United States, the only excuses for not partaking are the ones in your head. His race drew upwards of 100 runners in only its second year. “Many bare-buns participants have never been naked in front of 100 people, so stripping down and racing takes a lot of guts,” says Ron Horn, director of the Bouncing Buns 7K Clothing Optional Trail Run in Sunny Rest Resort just north of Allentown, Pennsylvania. “There is no judgment, just appreciation for being the way nature intended.”įor those (most of us) who aren’t accustomed to recreating outdoors au naturel, the thought of running unclothed might sound painful or embarrassing. “Our runs are about feeling the sun on your skin, about feeling how wholesome and good for the soul it is,” says Judy Williams, race director for the Wreck Beach Bare Buns Run in Vancouver, British Columbia, who prefers to be called a naturist. For those who are comfortable in the most natural state, simply removing textile restraint means freedom. It is edgy, it is different, it is appealing to push your comfort-zone limits. That is, until you sign up for a bare-buns race, which may change how you view running and public nudity.

Now, with societal norms and pesky laws forbidding nudity, adults aren’t afforded that same freedom to bare it all. Think back to those blessed, golden, childhood days when streaking around the front yard half clothed (probably through a sprinkler) was pure bliss. Is running nude in your future? Think back to those blessed, golden, childhood days when streaking …

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Sunny rest resort 7k run