Barefoot Running Update

I'm making slow but sure progress. There are still some remnants of that big blister on the left foot and I managed to get a couple of small ones but they weren't any trouble at all. You'll notice there's an overall smoothness and thicker look to most of the skin. It has the leathery feel of a well-worn baseball glove. Twice this week I ran my three mile loop on the Centennial Trail and around Riverfront Park barefoot. It's mostly asphalt with some cement, pavers, wood (bridges) and grass. Running through the puddles yesterday was fun. It reminded me of playing barefoot football in the rain in a neighborhood and time long since past.

Based on my experience so far, if I was starting over I would run barefoot on grass only to learn my new stride and work on that while running in shoes. I would walk on a variety of rough surfaces until I could walk for at least one mile without significant discomfort. Then I'd interject 1/2 to 1 mile of barefoot running during my regular runs and gradually increase that as it became more comfortable.