This blog is about an experiment in toughening the soles of my feet.
For the last three weeks I've gone hiking barefoot. The idea came to me at the end of a trail. Shoes were already off to wade in a cryogenic stream. The trail was about a mile and a half long, covered with sharp cubic quartzite gravel. It made for some slow going. Speed didn't come natural.
Which was good, because it made an otherwise short hike last longer. Instead of waiting in the parking lot, I was waited-for- at least for a couple minutes.
The next week was similar. About two miles total over a mix of gravel, scree, talus, and- toward the end- across the forest floor. My feet were sore after that one too. I was the slowest poke around. Again, a short hike made more substantial by barefooting it.
This last weekend, I hiked about 3.6 miles. This trail was through a pine forest, occasional sand, gravel, snakes (x2), and stone outcroppings. This week I didn't just hike, I jogged, I ran. I kept ahead of other shoe-wearers. I was no kind of slowpoke.
And my feet were about as sore as they'd been the previous two weeks. Not too bad.
Today I bought a single 3-tab shingle asphalt composite shingles from Home Depot. It traced my foot, cut off half my big toe (on the cut-out, not the toe itself) and made myself a pair of gravel-covered insoles to use without socks.
The shingles probably won't last a day before I wear all the gravel granules off. The combination of heat and friction will, doubtless, make short work of them.
What I need is a pair of durable, rough-gravel insoles that won't degrade from the heat typical to the human foot. If I can toughen my feet up on odd-numbered days, and maintain that toughness even when I'm not hiking barefoot, then going barefoot when I want to would be far more appealing. Instead of being an exercise in pain management, I'd be able to focus on the unique sensory experience of being in touch with the ground.
Is it strange to want to go barefoot? No, not really. Barefoot is healthy. It allows your feet and gait to take their natural shape. Going barefoot causes you to adapt to your surroundings, distribute your weight, tread lightly. Instead of pounding on your heels and jarring your knees, barefooting makes you glide, naturally. Vibram, of shoe tread fame, makes shoes that mimic the look and feel of going barefoot, called FiveFingers. They literally have five little toes. I admire the concept. For people who want to wear shoes, who don't want to experience the pain or risk of going shoeless, or who want to go out in hot or cold weather (shoeless even on white concrete in the summer is torture).
So, that's the idea. Durable foot-toughening insoles for graduating to shoelessness.
1 comment:
No complaints after one full day. Hardly notice they're there. The heat of my feet has melted and flattened the shingles though. One of the insoles has split in half, right under the bridge of my right foot. Still usable though. My feet aren't remotely sore.
I've read arguments that it's better to have soft, supple skin on your feet than hard, tough skin. The idea is that soft skin will flex and stretch and be less likely to result in blisters. Hard, tough, thick calluses can still have blisters under them.
This reasoning belongs to people who wear shoes though. If you want to go barefoot, your major concern is just being able to tolerate the roughness of the ground.
If you're wearing shoes, you're rubbing your skin against the shoe itself. No such problem if you're barefooting.
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