We have had a really mild winter and I am excited about starting my barefooted journey. The weather today is in the high 40's and it feels pretty warm. The sidewalks are mostly dry and I felt like running. I haven't run since October, one reason was while on vacation (where I did a bit of barefoot walking at the resort in Florida), I ran too much and got an overuse injury. It took several months to go away and then I had just lost the habit and other things crept into my life to use up that time. Beside it was now winter.
But today was the day to experiment. This would be a great opportunity. My legs would need to gain strength and I figured my feet could get stronger right along side of them. Choosing long pants to help hide my feet a little, I rolled up the bottom a tad, so my pants wouldn't drag in the dirt, and set off on my run.
The pavement was still very cool under my feet and I had to navigate around a few streams of melting snow banks along my route. As I ran past a small shopping plaza one guy notice my bare feet and exclaimed to his friends, "Look, that guy is running barefooted." This made me feel a bit proud and glad about my decision.
I made it a half mile before stopping and walking and my toes were getting pretty cold. After walking a little and recovering I did a bit more jogging and walking till I hit the mile mark. I had run 1.04 miles in 13.53. I was very pleased with this, my very first run without shoes.
One thing I noticed as I ran, was when I landed on a sharp object, my ankle, body and foot would all shift the weight away from that spot and I would continue on. I've always had strong ankles so I guess that is going to be a big help in the future.
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