June 12, 2009

Barefoot on Grass

Today's barefooting on grass was far more successful than my last attempt. My faith has been renewed in going completely barefoot.

I left the house in VFF KSOs and we decided to walk around the soccer fields near our house. The grass is healthier now with less dry, dead grass. I took off my shoes at our turnaround, so about half of our walk was completely barefoot.

I noticed several things while barefoot today:
  1. I step much more lighly, even on grass, completely barefoot than in VFFs.
  2. I could feel a bit of jarring in my back (it was particularly sensitive today) with the VFFs and none barefoot.
  3. My knees also come up higher, maybe because they're more bent barefoot?
  4. The skin on the bottom of my feet felt tougher today than the last time.
  5. My feet and legs react faster to uncomfortable things I step on (eg, the odd rock in the field) barefoot than in VFFs.
  6. I really wanted to stop and enjoy the feel of the occassional tuft of soft grass beneath my feet.
  7. I look down at the ground a lot more when barefoot than in VFFs, probably because I care more about what I step on without any protection.
  8. I did not get the urge to run like I normally get when I'm outside walking in my VFFs. (I wonder why that is?)
  9. Absolutely no burning feeling on the bottom of my feet when I got home. (YAY!)
Well, I noticed a lot of things on today's walk: some good, some not so good, depending on your perspective. Today's walk was far more pleasant than the last time I went barefoot on grass. I'll probably keep working on it and see if my feet can still get tougher.