Good thing I have a supportive family. But they are barefooters of various kinds, too. The attendees were my 2 youngest daughters, who run barefoot, and my oldest daughter with her husband and 2 year old, all of whom have been going barefoot and minimal more in daily life. Oh, and my dog, who goes barefoot all the time.
We walked a loop around my ponds, which is about a mile, and discussed various health and political issues. Toddler speed, so it took a good 45 minutes. She was having a blast, particularly because we stopped to look at ducks, baby ducks, and loons.
As we were saying good-bye to each other, an 60something man (told me later he is 67), honed in on us. Since it was IBRD, it seemed appropriate to answer as many questions as he wanted to ask. He said he had seem me running regularly and had actually timed my laps!
He seemed to listen with interest and make understanding comments about all the barefoot info. For instance, he has debilitating hip pain, but walks with clunker shoes his max of 25 feet. (then he sits and watches... ) He was barefoot a lot as a boy and remembers his feet being tough. So, I thought it was all very positive. But later, my son-in-law told me the fellow cornered him again after my group left and explained why I shouldn't be running! Something about someone he knew who ran and died of heart trouble, apparently at an advanced age. Ha! As one of my daughters said, "Yeah, 'cause he's the one with pain and can't walk more than a few feet." Oh, well.
(I'm having trouble seeing how to add photos that don't have separate URL's here)
We walked a loop around my ponds, which is about a mile, and discussed various health and political issues. Toddler speed, so it took a good 45 minutes. She was having a blast, particularly because we stopped to look at ducks, baby ducks, and loons.
As we were saying good-bye to each other, an 60something man (told me later he is 67), honed in on us. Since it was IBRD, it seemed appropriate to answer as many questions as he wanted to ask. He said he had seem me running regularly and had actually timed my laps!
He seemed to listen with interest and make understanding comments about all the barefoot info. For instance, he has debilitating hip pain, but walks with clunker shoes his max of 25 feet. (then he sits and watches... ) He was barefoot a lot as a boy and remembers his feet being tough. So, I thought it was all very positive. But later, my son-in-law told me the fellow cornered him again after my group left and explained why I shouldn't be running! Something about someone he knew who ran and died of heart trouble, apparently at an advanced age. Ha! As one of my daughters said, "Yeah, 'cause he's the one with pain and can't walk more than a few feet." Oh, well.
(I'm having trouble seeing how to add photos that don't have separate URL's here)
