Kelly asks to see pictures of my doormat sandals. THAT requires getting the cord thingy, which is a LOT of work. I mean, it’s hot outside. Sure, I’m in the air conditioning, but still. I’ll have to put down my Lime Ricky (gin and tonic with a bit of sugar and lime. I’m not really drinking one right now, but doesn’t that sound nice?). Fine. Here are some pics from my cheapo camera.
Look at that knobby tread. These things are like TANKS!
Yes, I have lower shin male-pattern baldness. And I was lazy with tucking in the string.
Wouldn't my tracks have been pretty?
Since unloading pictures are such a CHORE, here are some others from times gone by:
In the hotel before Blue Ridge. Running barefoot makes your head explode.
Most accidents happen in the bathroom, supposedly.
I considered stuffing the vffs in my pants. Do these shoes make my butt look big?
Apparently, this is what happens when I’m alone in a hotel room with a camera and anxiety at 5am.
On to my gravel training:
The face is Sunny (name of dog, not weather condition), the butt is Happy (name of dog, not temperment), the rocks are pointy
There's Tito, the only other man in the house.
I'm using Happy as a foot rest, she's using Tito Trinidad as a chin rest. Sunny is probably eating goose poo.
FYI, I’m rocking a 30 minute mile on this loop with the dogs. Jealous much?
And yes, it frequently hurts. But as a wise(ass) man once said, tough feet need rough surfaces.
Maybe the super thick cord is your problem. And with these, you really do need to build up a callous.
And, uh, weird … we share a similar shin hair affliction. I lost mine from poison ivy.
Oh well, it’s probably better to run barefoot on the rocks anyway.
I’m making a pair of mocassins for the snow/ice next winter.
Your running partners look like they can kick some butt on those trails.
Viper: could be the cord, but if I need callouses, well, we all know how vain I am.
Kelly: Yeah, they kick my butt. Sunny is unpredictable and clumsy, Happy is really fast and wants to go go go, and Tito Trinidad likes to stop without warning. We’re quite the little traveling circus.
The directions for making the invisible shoes on the site say to make your hole ,for where the string goes between your toes, closer to the 2nd toe. When you pull it tight it will keep the shoe from naturally wanting to slide to the inside of the foot. You mark looks like it is too close to your big toe and would rub too much right in the middle.
Angie: the shoe could use some trimming – my foot is turned a bit on the sole. If I turn my heel out a bit more, it’s closer to the 2nd toe. But maybe you’re right; it might be more comfy if the string were farther over. Who knows. I’ll probably never find out, because a) I’m lazy b) the flip flop thong and I have a bad history and c) I didn’t learn to run barefoot to become a shoe manufacturer. Although that would be funny, and par for the course.
Hey man, I tried to run on a gravely trail today. It sucked. I feel for you. It was fine for about 2 minutes, then I wanted out. I really want to be able to run on gravel. I guess I will just have to work on it more.
Tyler: not all gravel is created equal, and the path is always changing. I mean that literally – not being philosophical. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes not. I’m starting to think that the trick is there is no trick.
I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.
-Indian proverb
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I was sad when I met a man who had shoes, because they were a bathmat.
-Proverbs 13:24