Everyone pushes through pain sometimes. The trick is always deciding whether it is, 1) going to make you stronger, or, 2) result in injury. For instance, beginning to run with bare feet can be a challenge. If you run just on velvet surfaces, like grass, you are at risk for hidden objects and dangerous holes. If you run on cement, the soles of your feet will likely be abraded by the constant ridges. If you run on asphalt, you WILL come to sections that are sharply pokey. Even when you progress slowly, it takes some time and determination to reach the point where running barefoot is less about toughening up the feet and more about overall form and increasing distance.
Then there is the fact that, even if you can see the ground clearly, there will be regularly be some sort of grit and debris. Most of the time, after the soles of the feet have gotten more leathery, this stuff will just not have any soft skin to adhere to. Sometimes, though, it finds a nice crack or softer spot and tries to hitch hike. Like for me, last week –
I can currently run just over 8 miles completely barefooted. One of my main routes has just about every type of surface on it that can be listed, from dirt with heavy gravel to one small lovely patch of grass. My feet are pretty tough,. Even when I have stepped on goat head burrs, they generally just barely prick the bottom of my foot and I flick them off quickly. Still, in this dry Idaho climate, sometimes my feet just randomly crack!
These are cracks typically no longer than half an inch, and are usually smaller. They tend to happen at a joint of a big toe, but sometimes open up on the pad of a big toe. I’ve never had them on any other toes. When I wore shoes, I got them even more, and in more places, like on my heel. So, it’s not because of running barefooted.
I have learned to continue to run barefooted when I have these cracks. I have found that if I am working on my overall form, like I should be, and choose to NOT concentrate on the little sting, that the exposed tissue adapts to the sensation and I can forget about it and enjoy my run. If it seems like it is taking too long to dry out and callous up (more than a few days?), I will sometimes smear the crack with vaseline and cover it with a bandaid at night. That seems to help whatever tissue formation needs to take place. But, during the day, I let the tissue have as much open air as possible.
Last week, I experienced a variation on this scenario. I only had a very small, pin-head sized crack in my left big toe, so I really wasn’t worried about it at all. I got to about mile 5, in my 7 mile run, and felt much more distinctive sharp pain in the toe. As is my habit when this occurs, I took a moment to see if something needed to be dislodged. I looked and I brushed it with my hand. The toe felt smooth, so I continued to run. (Don’t forget you can click on a photo to enlarge it.)
The pain persisted, but was not constant. I stopped again. And again. The last time, I even sat down on the path and twisted the bottom of my foot up to my face. Nothing. Okay, fine. Maybe I was tired. I had to focus on keeping good form in spite of the discomfort and began to wonder if I had sustained some kind of small bone fracture. However, after about a mile more, the pain subsided and I finished mile 7 very strongly and happily.
When I washed the bottom of my feet, directly after the run, I still didn’t find anything. The slight pain continued to come and go as I went about my chores, barefoot in the house on rugs, tile, and cement. Finally, it was time for my hot bath and leg self-massage! I hadn’t felt anything for a couple of hours, but decided to look at the area one more time.
The few minutes of soaking in the water, followed by the bit of squeezing pressure required in order to be able to see the bottom of my foot, resulted in a small pebble popping out into my fingers. It’s funny that I even caught it or noticed it. I wasn’t expecting it and it could have easily landed in the water without me ever knowing it was there! I guess while running I had landed on it just right for it to get pushed up into that little crack. Plus, it was winter white, blending in with my flesh. How odd is that!
So, now I can say that I have run a couple of miles with a pebble embedded in my toe. I can also say that it was definitely worth finishing the run and no harm came from running with that bit of hard mineral in there. A couple of days later and the crack was completely closed up and tough. As I’ve said from the beginning of this barefoot adventure, I don’t want to be stupid about exposing my feet. The fact is, though, that I’m seeing my feet AND my mind are capable of more than I had imagined!
