Date: 201004151630 Thursday, April 15 1630
Terrain: Colorado Springs streets.
Plan: Run barefoot for 1 mile then run 2 miles in shoes for a total of 3 miles.
Reality: Ran 1.2 miles barefoot then ran 2.41 in shoes for a total of 3.41 miles.
Effort: Ran at a normal pace for a run of that distance. This was especially heartening given the details from below.
Pain: Middle toes, shins, ankles calves. Both middle toes are raw. The left toe lost quite a bit of skin and is in a lot of pain. It may prevent my future planned barefoot run on Saturday. Both shin muscles a little sore (though not like shin splints). Ankles and calves sore.
Description: I started my run on the corner of Aeroplaza Dr. and N. Newport Rd., Colorado Springs, CO. I ran east on Aeroplaza to Aviation Way on the sidewalk. The sidewalk felt great except for a small portion that was an unpaved driveway. I felt the difference in my stride as it shifted from a hard cadence-running heel-strike to a more agile forefoot landing. I felt more nimble and I was having fun running around a little, running up the sides of small embankments, hopping from one side of the sidewalk to the other to avoid gravel and, at points, running balanced on the curb along the side of the road when cars passed.
Crossing the streets was a bit painful due to the asphalt as I ran South on the sidewalk on Aviation Way and realized that the sand and gravel that they put on the roads in the winter was built up on the road and all over the sidewalk. This caused more pain on my feet and I had to pay close attention to my path avoid the gravel when I could.
I moved over into the street after passing Fountain and I was noticing that the gravel was getting stuck to my toes (my left middle toe especially). I scraped it of here and there until I finally stopped (around 1.2 miles) to pull a rock off my foot and realized that I had scraped the skin off the bottom of my left middle toe and it was exposed. I decided to switch into my shoes to finish my run. I went a little slower after that until I hit my turnaround point. My left toe was in a lot of pain and I could feel myself compensating and falling back to a more mid-foot / heel strike. It hurt too much to run on my forefeet due to the toes. I started to notice some soreness in my shins around Fountain on the return trip.
I ran West on Fountain until I hit N. Newport Rd. and I took N. Newport Rd. back to my start point.
If I were to do the first run over again I would run 0.5 miles then switch to shoes for the middle part of the run then back to barefoot at the end.
Update: The next morning both middle toes still hurt. Only the left one is torn open. My ankles and shins are still sore.