Windy and Cooler Weather

Hello Barefooters.  I had another great week of barefoot running.  4 miles on Monday (my first 4 miler!), 2 miles on Wednesday (cut short due to rain), 4.2 miles Friday (hit rock hard at mile 1.5, ouch!), and 2 miles today (2 separate runs).  The first run today was with my 11 year old daughter Megan who ran it in her socks.  We ran on the Midland Trace Trail in Westfield for a quick out and back on the smooth pavement...at 37 degrees and windy, that was enough...but we had White's Donuts waiting for us back at the truck so it was worth it (great carbs!)  Then later I took a letter out to the mailbox and decided to go another mile.  It was now a little warmer (44 degrees) so the feet didn't go numb.  I was happy that the injury from the day before wasn't hurting too bad either. 

Yes, the day before I went out for my first 4.2 miler.  It was 55 and VERY windy.  But I was enjoying the run and it was challenging "pushing" against the strong northwest wind.  At 1.5 miles, without warning, I stepped on a huge rock very hard with the outside of my right foot...so hard I said "OWW" outloud...expletive deleted!  I continued to feel the pain throughout the rest of the run.  I did my normal ice bath afterward, this time 4 min, followed by the hot tub, and then another 1 min ice bath (feet only of course).  Later that night I applied some of my Traumeel that I recieved the day before and it seemed to help.  I bought the Traumeel on-line on a recommendation from Tellman (of Run Tellman Run fame) and it must have helped since I was able to run 2 miles the very next day.  As you can see, the bruise actually wraps up to the top of my foot (red cap on the Traumeel tube points to the bruise), so I have been continuing to apply it.  Overall my feet feel great, even with the deep bruise, and they feel like they're getting more muscular day by day.  It really feels good and the toes are starting to spread and feel more "alive."  I'm hoping the super cold weather holds off for a while since I'm having so much fun increasing my mileage and improving my form.  I'm getting more confident in my form as the blisters on the ball of both feet (under 2nd metatasil) have begun sloughing off with the recent rainy wet weather running, and yet no new blisters seem to be forming.  The one bad thing about this right foot bruise is that it seemed to be my right foot that was the slowest to "learn" the proper foot landing and how to fully "spread out" the pressure across the entire foot.  I'm hoping I don't start babying the outside of the right foot and begin unlearning those good lessons of proper foot landing.  I'll be travelling to CA again next week so I should get in a warmer run out there.

Anyway, please enjoy the barefoot running everboby and continue letting me know what you think by emailing me at dlutes1@irf.com or comment below and follow the blog. 

Happy Barefoot Running! 
BF Dan -- Barefoot miles for week:  12.2miles