Lost My Virginity Today

They tell me it's a rite of passage, and that it happens to everyone. I just never thought I'd be nearly 56 before it happened to me.

I lost my virginity today.

I wasn't expecting it, and I certainly wasn't looking for it. I didn't even realize it happened at first, until I looked down and saw the blood. After all, it was really tiny. And yeah, it hurt, but once it was out, everything was fine, and I didn't feel the least bit of shame or pain.

There I was, starting out my usual barefoot run with a 1-mile walk, when I felt a sudden twinge in my right heel. I figured I must have stepped on a pebble, and lightly scraped my heel on the pavement to dislodge it. Didn't give it a second thought. As I kept walking, the pain didn't really go away, so I figured that it wasn't a pebble but rather a form issue, that I must be landing on my heels too heavily, and sure enough, once I began to run and got off my heels, the pain all but disappeared. But every now and again, there it was, sharp and niggling in that right heel. About two miles in, I figured I should stop to take a look, just to make sure I really didn't have a pebble stuck down there.

What I saw wasn't a pebble, but a small amount of blood right around the area that hurt. I started to dig at it with my finger, and sure enough, there WAS something in there. I pried and dug in -- the skin on my heel was surprisingly tough -- and in a few seconds, there it was:

The proverbial piece of glass that everyone asks me if I'm afraid I'll step on.

It was small, about an eighth of an inch, and green. Once I got it out, the pain instantly subsided. I looked at the offender for a second or two, then flicked it into the street where it would find a new home in some car's tire. I was amazed at how tough the skin was where I dug the thing out, and I was able to complete the rest of the run, another 4 miles, in relative comfort.

They say you never forget your first time. I know I won't.
 
Hahaha! I got my first sliver of glass a few months back. I made it a whole year before getting any glass slivers. Glad it didn't really hurt you too much.
 
It's about time! And it didn't kill you either, now did it?!
 
Bag of shards! That's a great thing to collect!
 
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Geez, won't anyone invite me to the prom? About two years of barefoot running (although the first 9 months were quite minimal), and over thirty years of casual barefooting and still no shards of glass. When will my ship come in mother, when? I too want a bloody rag to wave to my bfr clan members, signalling my initiate status in this central rite of passage.
 
Does running on a dead bird count as road kill? It was a big, mangled up bird maybe the size of a crow or even a little bigger.

Yes it does! The nastiest thing I ran barefoot on was splayed skunk guts. A car must of hit near the curb and all it's inside was on the sidewalk. This was like my 3rd month into barefoot running. I was paying more attention to the carcass before I realized it was to late.
 
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I just came around a corner with the stroller in front of me and thought it was a bag or something and thought I had missed it, that's when it popped out from under the stroller right where my foot was coming down. Yucky crunching noise and then gagging from me...
 
Geez, won't anyone invite me to the prom? About two years of barefoot running (although the first 9 months were quite minimal), and over thirty years of casual barefooting and still no shards of glass. When will my ship come in mother, when? I too want a bloody rag to wave to my bfr clan members, signalling my initiate status in this central rite of passage.

Good things come to those who wait. And besides, just cause all the other girls are doing it doesn't mean YOU have to do it too :)
 
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About two years of barefoot running (although the first 9 months were quite minimal), and over thirty years of casual barefooting and still no shards of glass.
You could drop a Pyrex bowl in the kitchen. I was vacuuming and sweeping up shards for half an hour. Fortunately for everyone else in the house (shoe-wearers), I discovered the last piece embedded in my heel a day later. Didn't think about it, and threw that out, too. However, I guess it doesn't count, if it's my own fault.

I have three pieces so far. Oh, how they sparkle!
 
Clearly you don't live anywhere near where I live, Sid. Our streets are filled with nuts, most of whom are behind the wheels of cars.:)
My thoughts exactly. I think too many of them are more focused on their technology in their hands, ph, stereo, tv thingy for kids... I nearly got taken out by a UPS driver one day when I was biking because he was looking at a GPS, I'm assuming to figure out where his next delivery was. Much safer on the sidewalks despite the occasional bruised arch from an acorn or gumball.
 
The only thing I have not stepped in as of yet in my barefoot running adventures is hot coals, that is on the agenda for next summer though. I stepped in some moose scat a month ago and I had people freaking out, all I did was walk over to the creek, dipped my foot and look at that, all better and clean. The poor sucker who was following me was carrying it on the bottom of his shoe for the rest of the day. Sucker, who is silly now......:p
 
I'm surprised you were able to dig it out with your fingers, especially with the thick sole. I've had glass embedded a couple times, and each time I had to wait 'til I was home to dig with tweezers. I was also glad for my thick soles; I think it kept the shards from getting very far in. I also had a really sharp pebble - or it may have been a small bit of asphalt, it was black as coal - that embedded so far that I had to get the tweezers after it.
 
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