Not quite a 2 miler!

Last Sunday would have been my mum's 70th birthday.  We had a family get together planned to mark the event, but early in the morning I decided to get out for a run.  The weather was beautiful, and whilst I had only planned to go a couple of miles, I felt good, my Vivos felt comfortable and the dog was running well too, so I decided to head for a slightly longer route which took me away from the main road and up into the countryside. 

When I got to the lanes, I took off my Vivos and ran barefoot.  Instead of thinking about sad things, I relished the feel of the road on my feet, and the peace of running without the slap, slap of trainers, and things felt good.  I did just over a mile in bare feet, then put the Vivos back on to reach a total of 3.5 miles in all.

Yesterday I took the same route, this time setting off in my VFF classics, which I haven't worn for a while.  They felt incredibly comfortable, and I enjoyed the greater degree of feedback from the pavements, even in comparison to the Vivos.  I took them off earlier in this run, and my feet felt so comfortable that I didn't put them back on all the way home, clocking up a total of 3.52 miles, with 1.99 in bare feet.  In fact, I reckon I could do that whole circuit barefoot, just with a slight caveat that there tends to be a lot of broken glass along the main road on the second half a mile out (which I can avoid on the return journey).

What I really enjoyed from this second run was a surprise moment:  we overtook an old lady walking along the road, my husband and the dog first, and then me, silently padding past.  As we ran past, I felt incredibly light footed, as if everything had fallen into place and I could run forever.  It was really quite an exhilarating moment.  I hope that if I can continue to improve my distances in bare feet I will get that feeling more and more.

My feet were not at all sore when I got home.  The soles were warm and tingly (and remained so for most of the day), but as usual, I was amazed to look at them and see no visible signs of wear and tear, even though in places I knew I had stepped on some sharp stones.  My next run?  Well, I'm going to have to hit that 2 miles in bare feet, and then I'll be almost at the point I was before Christmas when everything else in my life went a bit pear shaped.