Running Barefoot

Minds are fickle things. Mine has an issue with selective memory. Remember my running fiasco with concrete? It was a traumatic experience. Pain is supposed to trigger long-term memory, right?

Ha.

I've recently become fascinated by minimalist running. The concept seems simple. Toughen up the feet by wearing minimalist shoes, then transition to barefoot running. Sure beats buying new running shoes every 500 miles. Better yet, concrete is supposed to be a great running surface for barefoot runners (who knew?).

They had me at concrete. I was sold.

A week later, I was the proud owner of a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves. Great shoes. Solid construction and good looking (no five finger shoes for me). Within weeks I was running faster, lighter, and really enjoying myself. Despite a slight pain in my right achilles, things were looking up--I was ready for Stage 2: barefoot running.

Yesterday, I shed my shoes and stepped out the door, ready to try an easy two mile out-and-back through the neighborhood. Asphalt all the way. No sweat, right?

Ha.

For the average runner, asphalt is a good compromise between concrete (bad) and dirt trails (good). Trouble is, barefoot runners aren't average. You see, there are different types of asphalt. The type outside my front door happens to be chip seal.

The best way to describe chip seal is by drawing parallels to cheese graters. Because that's essentially what chip seal is: a cheese grater for human feet. A chip seal surface is a thin layer of tar that has had small rocks and pebbles steamrolled into it. For a car, this makes perfect sense because the result is a grippy road. For feet, not so much. If I really wanted to run barefoot on 50 grit sandpaper, I would do so.

One mile into the run, my feet felt slightly tenderized. No blood that I could see, so I kept going. One-and-a-half miles in, still no blood, but I could see blisters forming. On arriving home, I decided walking on heels for the rest of the evening sounded like a very good idea. Today I'm walking like a 70-year old man, wiser and more wary of chip seal asphalt roads.

Still, I think the wild glances from passing motorists and cyclists made it a humorous situation. It'll be worthwhile to get toughened feet, just so I can elicit that kind of response on demand (ever since I graduated from homeschool, it's been hard to get a raised-eyebrow, much less slack-jawed disbelief).

As for that pain/memory relationship... back to the drawing board, neuroscientists... back to the drawing board...