I can't run anymore, but walking is fine. I walk about two miles barefoot everyday, even in winter if the sidewalks are dry. Anyway, two weeks ago a doctor's appointment took me close to St. Paul's largest lake, Lake Phalen, so I walked around it after the appointment. I used to run around this lake 1-3 times once in a while during my running days. They have a new Chinese shrine and a rehabilitated waterfall now.
Anyway, I crossed paths with an old barefoot guy holding his flip-flops. He said, "Oh, another barefooter." Then he added, "I was just talking to them about it," as he pointed a hundred feet in the direction I was heading, to two middle-aged women. He concluded, "You should talk to those girls." But they were going about the same pace as I was, and then got in their cars at the next parking lot. Not sure what I was supposed to say. I would assume he gave them the basic spiel about health benefits, adapting, etc.
I mostly walk in my neighborhood, and I guess everyone's used to me now, so I don't get many comments. There's even a fellow barefooter up my street. But a week ago another dog walker I've chatted with a bit at times asked, "How about them acorns!?" To which I replied, "You've got to embrace them!"
That was a rare moment when the proper response came to me immediately and not a half hour later as is more usual.
