Wimping Out

snow, ice, winter, rock salt no problem ! sizzling hot pavement is this barefooters down fall ! will take winter over summer any day ! very ironic that I sometimes wear flip flops in summer and go barefoot in winter ! the polar opposite of the shoe wearing public !!!

 

Haven't hit my upper limit yet. It never gets that hot around here. The highest I've seen was 31 Celcius (88 Fah) during a peak July 5 years ago, and that was very comfortable for me. Even tarmac, because the road pavement here is rather old, and has taken on a more lighter shade of gray.

Snow, I've gone down to -13 Celcius (8,5 Fah) in early 2013, when I was deliberately testing my limits during my earlier winter footing years. That's starting to be my lower limit, because my feet got numb fast, and overall, it became a quite painful experience rather quickly. An emergency foot bath in warm water was required. I should point out that at that time I walked in deep snow that covered the tops of my feet as well.

 

I went out shopping barefoot today and it was 104 degrees but I wasn t outside enough for that to really matter

 

It’s in the low 90’s here in SW Pennsylvania. Cut my grass yesterday morning and ran some errands in the afternoon. The parking lots were blazing hot but I was able to walk to the store on it barefoot. And I don’t park close to the entrance because that’s always crowded and hectic. I felt the heat on my soles but it didn’t bother me.

 

That deeper snow gets me as well. Makes my feet tingle and it’s very uncomfortable. Then I start thinking frostbite and that scares me. If the snow is packed down it’s no problem.You have my respect for even doing , a true barefooter you are.

 

Snow? Scorching hot pavement? Going barefoot should be a pleasure, not an endurance contest.

 

damn it feels good to see a sane post in the barefoot forum.

 

Indeed. Nice to hear a basic truth.

 

I wonder if toe nail fungus ever affects regular barefooters or if that is a condition entirely caused by shoes. No one ever gets "athletes hand", maybe people in the arctic in gloves all day ?, but I think there is a fungus that can effect finger nails too.

My web search said yes. Pee on your fingers would work too then I guess.

 

You can get only athlete hand, if you walk on your hands, or touch the shower ceiling all the time.

 

It is a pleasure. Endurance has built up over years of being barefoot. If it feels like it is going to be a danger then you get away from those conditions.

 

I grew up in the tropics, where every kid runs around barefoot all the time. We say it takes four years before you can really walk on glass, but your feet and hands both have special blood vessels that contract to make dealing with the cold and heat easier. As kids, we would often warn tender feet not to follow us walking on glass. If you have the callouses, any glass just gets stuck in them and doesn't hurt, and you pull it out later.

 

I can’t give it a definite time frame but I have to agree with you. When I started going barefoot as a kid it took a while before my soles really got toughened up to withstand a lot of those dangerous objects. I recall it being years.

 

In general, you need at least three years to acclimate to any new place, and our feet are no different. I worked construction as well, and would only use leather gloves to pick up sharp objects, because a pair of gloves would only last a week if I picked up everything up with them.

 

Here's the thing: where I live, we only get on average 3 months of actual, decent summer. That would mean that for 9 months out of 12, I'd have to wear shoes full time to protect my feet from getting cold. You know what I'm saying? If I'd respect the weather all the time, my active barefoot time would be reduced too much, almost to nothing. I've already had a fungal infection in my toenails to show for that.

Thank you for your concern, but we, who push ourselves to the limit, do so with full understanding of the risks. And I for one follow a set of rules that I never break.

 

Record temperatures in the East Midlands expected today, I'm off work for the next 4 days and was either going to drive to the coast or catch a bus to a nearby country park and walk home the 6 or so miles barefoot, but it's already uncomfortable to walk on the pavements at 10.30am. Think I'll spend the day in the garden, tomorrow looks like the temperature will be more barefoot friendly.

 

Why not just take a walk around your neighborhood?

 

Went out a couple of times before it got too hot, but now walking on anything but grass is like walking on hot coals. Even my driveway is not nice to stand on

 

How hot is it?

 

34 degrees Celsius / 93 farenheit - apparently the hottest ever July day around here