Barefoot Blisters

I went out this morning barefoot, carrying my huaraches in my hands, the Spot GPS strapped to my arm. At 59 °F the cloudy morning felt about perfect for running. Cool without being cold, a light breeze stirring the mostly Douglas fir trees along the road. This road hasn't been repaved in many years and my feet felt all the small stones, the cracks and loose pebbles. I pressed the button on the Spot to track my progress and started out with small, light steps.

The surface felt rough, hard, but not actually painful to run on. I ran as light as I could, each foot fall a nearly silent padding along the road. I wore shorts and a t-shirt but felt comfortably cool. My breaths flowed in and out. My calves felt stiff and tight but I didn't push, letting the run loosen them up as I headed down the road.

A half-mile on I headed down the steep hill to the trail as a car passed me going the same way. The Yelm-Tenino trail felt much smoother after the rough road and I settled into the run, cruising along, enjoying the fact that my feet felt good. At the train crossing I paused and checked my feet. No hot spots. Everything looked good. I kept going.

On up the trail past a woman walking two big dogs, up into town, still barefoot. Surprising, but my feet felt good so I kept carrying the huaraches. Heading through town I ran across a few stretches, at driveways, littered with small gravel. No problem.

It wasn't until I headed on out of the main part of town, back onto the rough road that I thought maybe I'd pushed my bare feet a bit too far. I stopped and checked over the bottoms of my feet and found a blister on the ball of my right foot, and a few other suspicious parts. Rather than risk more problems I slipped on the huaraches and ran the rest of the way home.

A good run, a few blisters, but those will go away soon. Eventually I'll leave the huaraches at home! 3.54 miles on this loop, it's a good start for now. I hope to have my trike's brakes repaired soon and then I'll get back into riding the trike on my commutes more often. I still plan to keep running too.