OK, no, I’m not going to start with a barefoot joke – mostly because I don’t know any. But I will say that I’ve spent the summer mostly barefoot and I’ve loved every second of it! Since I wasn’t working, I didn’t have to wear shoes when I didn’t want to, and I wore flip-flops or sandals when I went to the store. I’ve not reached the point of feeling like I have to push the rules; I don’t really care if an establishment wants me to wear shoes to shop there. I may or may not continue to shop there based on their rules, but that’s a different story. I know the rest of the world has issues with people being barefoot and that’s OK by me.
However, I’ve found that people are fascinated with the fact that I can walk around without shoes on. When I took my boys to camp, I was barefoot. When I picked them up in the afternoons, I was barefoot. If I stopped and gassed up the car, I was barefoot. I have been into a few other places without shoes and nobody has ever said anything to me – but again, I haven’t pushed the limits. People ask me, “Isn’t the pavement hot?” or “Aren’t you afraid of stepping on something?” The truth is, yes, sometimes the pavement is hot. There are ways to help with that (walk in the grass or on the white lines if there are any). I’m not really afraid of stepping on anything, because I watch where I’m walking. I grew up in the country, and so you had to watch where you were walking (shod or not). The reason was snakes. They were everywhere, pretty much year-round, and if you didn’t watch where you were going you were likely to step on a rattlesnake or water moccasin, or even a harmless rat snake – which won’t hurt you but as my grandmother says, they will make you hurt yourself! So I always walked along looking at the ground. It’s something you never really outgrow, to be honest.
That’s not to say I don’t watch where I’m going; I’m hyper-vigilant about what I’m going to step on, but I’m clumsy and I don’t relish the idea of running into a light pole (or a telephone pole, or a person or tree). So I’m constantly looking up, looking around, looking down. It gives my eyes a workout too!
So last weekend I was running along on the sidewalk, and I notice that there’s this brown stuff there. I didn’t have my glasses on (which is unusual) and I thought it was doggie droppings so I avoided it. As I stepped over it, I realized it was pieces of a broken beer bottle. Not good, because as you know, glass scatters and splinters. So now I’m stuck in the middle of a broken bottle on the sidewalk and I opted to just keep going. I ended up getting a tiny shard stuck in my foot – but the awesome thing was this: my feet have built up enough that not only did I immediately know that I had stepped on a piece of glass (as opposed to an acorn or other debris), it didn’t hurt. I stopped running, sat down, and pulled the sliver out with my fingernails (I do run with tweezers for just such an event, but I’ve never had to use them on a run; I’ve always (twice!) been able to get the glass out with my fingernails). It didn’t even bleed; it was like stepping on a small sticker or thorn and I just kept going.
The great thing about this was that all my barefoot peeps out there have said this would happen. You’ll step on something, immediately know what it is, not worry, and take care of it (some things just unstick to your foot, too). This was the first time I’d gotten to experience it though so it’s nice to feel like I’ve finally “arrived” at barefoot running.
Yeah, it’s the little things in life that keep me happy. ;-)
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