TWO AND A HALF MILES, BAREFOOT, BAREFOOT!

Yesterday I made the mad decision to run barefoot, barefoot,no vibrams, here I am ready to go on my first ever purely barefoot run, I have my vibrams in my hand which I took with me as I did not know whether I could last the whole three miles. It was a lovely day, the sun was shining, birds tweeting, children playing in the streets,  and since I'm on a go slow with my achilles still aching I thought I might as well give it a try.

Earlier this year, 14 miles into a 15 mile training run, the soles of my feet started to really ache so I whipped off my trainers and ran the last mile home in just my socks, that is what got me thinking about running in this way, I've tried the virbrams a couple of times, but yesterday was about going all the way, nothing between me and the ground.

I  wore my headphones, and even though I did receive some comments, I didn't hear a thing that was said, which is what I love about listening to music." No I don't care what you think, and I don't want to know what you think either,why are you talking to me, do I know you." Notice how it's always men who got crap to say!

Now I'm terrified of dog mess even with shoes on,  but funnily enough I didn't see one bit on my journey yesterday, which was a miracle, thank you running God's. (I've been known to throw shoes away in the past if I step in dog mess, it's not like I can throw my feet away, no I ain't rich, I just got a dog mess phobia, when I run past it, I have to hold my breathe in case the spores go into my mouth, get into my chest and infect me, and holding your breathe whilst running is not a smart thing to do, so it can be a problem).

My boyfriends place is a lot more dog mess free than where I live so that's why I decided to run barefoot there, rather than around my own area, where dog mess just sneaks up on you like "POW"before you even see it.

GOOD POINTS

I felt very light on my feet

Don't sound like a baby elephant,  although I have to be careful not to scare old ladies as I sneak up on them.

Slight ache in the achilles which went after a while

I felt a bit hardcore,

Glass is easy to spot, its shines like pretty jewels.

Large stones are easy to spot,

BAD POINTS

The ground was quite hot, but that did keep me moving.

A couple times I had to stop and brush off tiny bits of stones that got caught under my feet,

Everyone stares, men,women, children in prams!

People say s**t.

Paranoid about stubbing my toe, breaking my toe, going over on my ankle.

I was a bit wussy every time my feet touched anything I thought might harm me, gravel, tiny stone e.t.c!

Speed wise I was just under 12 minute mile, I wasn't breaking any land speed records but I wasn't trying to, it was lovely feeling the ground beneath my feet, and noticing all the differences in the terrain, It made running a bit more exciting, hunting out the best bits of the pavement to run on, watching out for obstacles, It was fun, I felt more animal than human, alright, alright I'm exaggerating, but I felt good,

Just over 2 and a half miles I was ready to put my virbams on, my left foot, the left one with the bad achilles was fine, but my right one was starting to feel quite sore underneath, some of the pavements were quite rough, maybe I ran a bit too far for my first purely barefoot run or maybe the I wasn't picking up my feet high enough, popped the vibrams on and continued on my way.

Those are my feet after the run, if any white readers are confused they are my feet, look at the sides and

you'll see the brown, the soles of black peoples feet are quite pale, just incase you didn't  know!

 The left foot as said was fine, but I had a blood spot underneath the right one and a bit of red spot as well, if you look close at my crusty foot, it's just under the big toe, but luckily I must've got my Virbams on in time as it didn't turn into a blister, it's a tiny bit sore if I press on it, but nothing to write home about.

All in all I think that it was a success, need to read a bit more on form and how I should be running whilst running bare foot, physio tomorrow, new physio as well so I am hoping she can get me back on track and I can start clocking up the mileage again.

that's me done for now.

Happy running.