I went out this afternoon on a nice walk. I started out with tennis shoes on a bike trail in town, After I got to a nice quiet section I took off my shoes and socks and went for about a mile barefoot. The temperature currently is 45 degrees and its mostly sunny. The trail had some tree cover but for the most part it was open to the sun and those parts of the trail were not cold at all. I have to admit at one point someone was jogging by and I put my shoes on. If its summer I don't care I didn't want the look today. Once I got to the parking lot I left my shoes in the car and went up to a nice little park off the trail that is always empty unless canoeist use it to launch from. The grass was really nice in the sunspots and I even got into some nice soft dirt from the recent rains. Its about a half mile walk arount the whole park which I did, Afterwords I decided to take a break and look at the creek, I was barefoot the entire time and my feet only got cold when I got to the areas where the sun hasn't hit. I was actually suprised that I was able to barefoot so much today. I think I will use really sunny 40ish degree days to condition my feet on paved trails. Here are some pics I took, I really am not very good at the photo sizing so sorry if some are too small of big.
way to get those feet dirty bro! ^_^ i was gonna take a walk today, but it was only 34 when its too cold, i usually condition my feet by walking around on my carpeted basement floor while listening to my headphones
I have thought about trying to keep my feet somewhat conditioned over the winter, does the basement floor trick work well? I had an idea to make a gravel path in my garage using oil dry ( its a hard clay product thats like really small gravel) I don't have the room right now, I might try for that eventually. The big thing for me is it seems to take me at least 2 months to get my feet really conditioned, for example in 2005 I started barefoot hiking and walking alot in april, by june my feet felt strong, by september I could barefoot over most gravel with no trouble. Then come october I only went barefoot around the house and started hiking again in march 2006 only when it was warmer. I started going barefoot heavily in may and it took almost to july to notice any difference, by september I was getting really tough feet. So now my feet are already soft and I just can't seem to maintain what I have with what little barefooting I can do.
oh the basement trick works wonders! my feet are about as hard as leather on the bottom. i can run up and down my gravel driveway now, just like my mom! (yea hippie runs in the family ;P ) keep in mind that i walk around it daily tho, cuz the best way for me to relieve stress is to listen to music, and i cant do it sitting still! so when its too cold to walk outside, i walk in my basement ^_^ sounds strange i know, but at least i dont have to worry about cars!
Get some shorts on! I never thought I'd live to see winters as warm as they've become. I think most folks around here are used to seeing me in shorts all year round.
You know, I actually regretted not wearing shorts that day, it was that nice out. When I lived in Chicagoland there was a guy that stopped into my place of business almost every morning on business. He would almost always be in shorts, and I am talking when it was really really cold, now come to think of it I don't know if I ever seen him in pants.... Well anyway the thing I always found ironic is even in the sweltering summer he wore tennis shoes, and tennis shoes only. If only he tried at least flipflops.
I occasionally see that combination here. Someone like me who will wear shorts all winter but has the same foot wear all summer, including socks. But then I also know those who need their feet bare and free like me, who get too hot down there during the warm months, but they're never in shorts. I'll have both bare, or mostly so. People are interesting.
