Mile 145 -- Still Barefoot in December

I looked out my door this morning.  It was warmer, in the 40s, but it was wet.  I stepped out with my bare feet and the wet was cold.

No.  I'm not going to run with this wet ground.  Let me wait and see if it dries up.

Later, around noon, the ground had dried up completely.  I was in my running clothes. I think I even saw a bit of sun.  But I was wrapped up in doing a million things and ... well, it was feeling harder to go out and run.

Remember those spontaneous run days in the summer, when the urge to run just came over me (spontaneous run day #1 and spontaneous run day #2)?

Well, I haven't been feeling it as I look outside at the cold weather.  I have to make myself go.

The brief moment of sun went away.  Some more time passed.  Now it was getting later -- 3:30pm.  If I didn't go now, it was not going to happen.

I ran through a bunch of thoughts.  Can I wait until tomorrow?  Maybe I'm not meant to run today.  But maybe this will be the last day I can go barefoot and if I don't go I'll miss it.  And what about that last race in January down at Disney.  If I don't maintain the work of the summer, I won't feel good running it.

So, I forced myself out the door with my little pup.

And it was great!

I loved every step of it!  It was 41 degrees but it felt cold, even colder than the days I ran in the 30s.  It was very overcast and dull and grey outside.  And yet it was wonderful.  I think that the ground was colder than when it had sun shining on it. I think it makes a big difference when the ground is actually colder.

On a numbness scale of 1-10, with 10 being not able to feel anything and 0 being completely normal, I would say my feet were at about a 3-4.  It seems like that is an okay way to run.  A little danger of pounding my feet down too hard, but if I'm careful it's okay.

I wrote the other day about getting feedback from knees and other body parts about whether I'm running gently enough.  This awareness of listening to the rest of the body, after a summer of mostly listening to feet, made me feel more complete.  I thought that this whole body awareness would be useful for transferring barefoot running technique to when I put shoes on again.

As I was out there, it began to snow flurry.  It was really pretty.

It's a good thing I went out, because this snow continued through the day.  I think that I won't try snow running this year.  Maybe some year I'll try it, but I'm not ready to try it this year.

So, maybe this was my last barefoot run of the year.  145 barefoot miles. (actually 145.96)  Not a bad total.

But who knows?  Maybe my good fortune will last and I'll be able to keep it up somehow by the time I go down to Disney.