I am only exploring the lower temperature ranges that my bare feet can tolerate because I don’t want to put on shoes. I have no desire to test my limits of pain or set records for running in the cold. I don’t like to feel cold. But I am discovering that my feet have toughened up more this year and I am not feeling the cold on my bare feet as much. I have been naturally walking outdoors barefoot in much colder weather than before. Sometimes, it just doesn’t occur to me to put something on. Sometimes, I think about it briefly and it sounds so uncomfortable! Around the yard, I probably haven’t gone out in less that 40 degrees totally barefooted, possibly as low as 30 degrees for a short time.
Still, I have memories of running in the cold last year, when my bare feet were numb enough to hurt. If I leave the house to run, I don’t want to end up in a bad situation. When I saw that it was 37 degrees out last Thursday, I was apprehensive about running with bare feet. It was basically dry, though, and the sun was breaking up the fog. I decided to give it a try.
Part of the equation was that I was going to be running in unknown territory. Sure, it was a normal subdivision that I happened to be visiting, but I have learned that asphalt can vary drastically from place to place. For that matter, it can vary in one location from day to day at the rate the crews are chip sealing roads around here (Nampa and Boise, Idaho). Running on rougher asphalt tends to hurt if my feet are too cold.
The cement sidewalks turned out to be clear and available in front of all but a couple of houses. The asphalt was recently chip sealed. Then, I couldn’t stand the idea of running in circles among the houses any more, plus the halloween set-ups in so many of the front yards were making the dog freak out. I ventured out onto the main streets. I was pleased to find that there were sidewalks or distinct bike paths around the big block (Victory – Maple Grove – Overland – Fivemile and back into the neighborhood) There were the expected two or three rocky patches. There are on every run. But, over all, it was fairly smooth.
Or so I thought at first. The stretches of cement were easy to keep up a quick pace on, but the cement has those little ridges, so it was doing a bit of sandpapering on my toe pads. For the record, I am always thinking about what my feet feel like, and watching where I am going. For instance, I leapt (like a graceful doe, of course) over a number of bumpy metal manhole covers. Also, I knew I already had a tiny nick in one big toe. It happened early in the previous (totally-barefoot-on-asphalt-of -various-roughness 8 mile) run and I had knew it was fine to run on more. I stopped a couple of times to take a sharper pebble out of the bottom of my foot. Much easier than getting it out of a shoe, by the way. 🙂
For the duration of the approximately 4.75 mile run, my feet were not distressed in any way. I did find, upon visual inspection, that three different toe pads had very small, slightly red spots. Nothing to be concerned about, but something to be aware of for future runs on cement when considering distance. Also, something I would want to double check before my next run.

Saturday I ran 2.75 miles with speed intervals with my bare feet. This time I was on the . 56 mile asphalt path around the local Recreation Center. I was conscious of trying to not push off too much with my toes, but letting my cadence be a main factor in the speed. Maybe I should get someone to take a video so I can see if my perception is anything close to reality! Either way, my toes were happy with the run. The little nick bled a bit, but it is not bothering me. Not even enough for some duct tape.

Keep in mind, that as soon as I washed them, they looked just like the first picture. So, I have to wonder about all those stories of people who didn’t have shoes and walked about barefoot in the cold. If they were used to it, maybe it wasn’t as bad as we’ve been led to believe? Maybe it was mostly social pressure that made them want cumbersome shoes?
