Thursday 9.9 miles, first and last .8 were walking warmup and cooldown (8.3 running). Sun out bright, so many birds and other wildlife showing up for spring. The spring peepers were practically deafening near the one swampy spot.
Saturday 8 miles in the evening, after my son's Pinewood Derby at scouts (he took first place in his den!). First and last .4 were walking. Things getting cooler.
Sunday when out in the morning for a long run. Temps were pretty questionable for barefoot, I think it was around 22ºF at the time with wind chill making it feel like 12ºF. Usually around 20 is my cut off, plus with the unusually warm last month and several runs in shorts I thought maybe I had lost my winter conditioning. But I only had a narrow window while my son was in sunday school, so I threw my shoes and socks in my hydration pack and gave it a shot. Trying to work the long runs back up towards the teens too, and set out with a goal of 10-12 miles. I bundled up with a few layers and my extra cut off sock layer around the ankles. Was surprised after about a mile and a half the feet were comfortable. Yeah they were a little chilled but still had color and hadn't gone numb. The sun was out bright so that helped, a very clear blue sky, and the wind wasn't very noticeable. Almost all the wildlife was gone, going by the swamp where a few days ago was a full symphony of spring peepers now there was only a solo going, and that one fell silent as I approached. I turned around at 6 miles, everything seemed ok. But about half way back I started feeling a bit of a pain on my left foot. Thought maybe I'd stepped on a rock. After it didn't immediately go away I lifted the foot to check and was quite surprised to find a big old red spot right in the middle of my forefoot pad. I had burned through a couple layers of skin, not blistered, but abraded. Dang it, this hasn't happened in many years. I did have one problem besides the cold that might have contributed... a couple weeks ago I got a thorn on the inside of the forefoot pad on that foot and it's still bothering me a little. I may have been shifting my weight more to the outside to not pressure that spot. And the cold and reduced feeling allowed it to happen without my noticing. I think I had 3 miles left to go. Maybe I should have put on the shoes at that point, but I just decided to finish up as is. Probably another mistake, though the damage was already done anyhow. I'll have a few days off her to recover anyhow, working the next few dayshifts plus weather is suppose to turn pretty nasty with several inches of snow in the forecast.
So totals for the week 37 miles barefoot, 33 miles running, 4 miles warmup/cooldown walking.
Good luck Runlite on the half! I have two half marathons in April also, 23rd I'll likely run that one with Yvonne (not race it fast, more like training for the next one) and then right the next weekend 29th is the big one. I haven't been training for any speed all winter. Always so unprepared in Spring.
Nice trail run Tedlet. I don't get on the real trails that often. I wish there were more around here.