The Self Consciousness of a Barefoot Runner

I had planned last night to go barefoot running this morning, but as I was pulling out my running clothes, I grabbed my favorite pair of socks (pink with piggies on them) without realizing. I guess old habits die hard.

I started out by walking a couple of blocks to get my feet acclimated to the ground but I was definitely giddy to start running. But just as I was going to begin a slow jog, I saw a person getting into a car on the same side of the street that I was on. Suddenly, I became self conscious. How weird am I going to look while running...barefoot? It's one thing to walk barefoot -- I live by the beach and feel like I can get away with that. It's another thing to actually be moving at a semi-quick pace down the street sans shoes. So, I let the guy get in his car and not until after he had driven away did I start running.

I walked/jogged for about 30 minutes (ok, most of it was walking). But being able to actually do some running and understanding the form that I need to have when running barefoot was really cool. I could hear Barefoot Ken Bob's sayings in my head as I cruised along with the ocean to my right ("Let your calves relax so your whole foot touches the ground"). Everything seemed to feel pretty good by the time I got home. I had a little tenderness on the balls of my feet (again) but not as bad as the first day.

I feel like I am doing things right and moving at a pace that is good for my body to get used to a different type of running. I will probably do a similar "workout" on Friday and get into more of a routine and hopefully be able to start running more. Fingers crossed.