People's reactions when you run

Shod runner as he ran past: "No shoes!"
Me: "Oh bugger!"..
(can I say that on here? -seemed to make him chuckle anyway)

 

Today I was on blustery, sometimes hailing, but not too wet barefoot run. An elderly couple were walking and the man called out in a friendly way, "Young lady, where are your shoes?!" To which I laughingly replied, "You don't want to run with shoes on!"

 

Someone called the police on me yesterday! I was walking in the local park like I do almost every day and made a point to stay off the paved trail where practical to get a nice foot-massage. The weather was a bit cool but I walk barefoot when it's much colder. In fairness, there's a home for elderly and disabled people adjacent to the park. Someone may have seen me wandering under the trees and thought I was a lost resident who needed help. The police were very nice even though I had no ID. They determined that I was not in distress and am not a bad guy and left with a chuckle.

 

Wow! I've never heard that one before.

 

i know you have all been waiting for the latest long overdue installment of BroadArrow's adventures getting to know the local law enforcement!

so, i'm running down the "road of brotherly love" when a red cadillac drives past me slowly and stops at the stop sign 1/3 of a mile ahead. and stops. and stays. now, this is half a mile past the edge of town in the flat, flat cornfields. just before i get to the intersection, they cross and drive down another third of a mile and pull off the road. i dutifully continue my route and when i am halfway to them, they pull out and drive to the driveway of the one-of-only-two houses (with the farmers who always wave to me and even talked with me recently), turn around, and then sit at the end of that driveway pointed toward me. happily, an SUV came up behind me (i was naturally feeling a bit threatened, looking for escape routes, assessing potential interruptions to lines of fire, considering whether the farmers would shelter me, etc. and was at least running on the opposite side of the road to get a few feet between me and danger) so i was briefly shielded and ran on past. then, the caddy turns around *again* and drives past me and on down the road. whatever, people. check your map before leaving the house next time, huh?

i ran down to the T in the road and turned around like i usually do. i am about a quarter mile back down (around where the caddy passed me for good) when i see the familiar profile of a sheriff's deputy's car. hmmm.... i know what this is about... i decided to get my wallet out before they even stopped and go to the other side of the road to greet them before they perceive *me* to be a danger.

so, i says somethin' like, "hi! i guess i am overdue for this to happen again. somebody call you about me out running again?" i fiddled in my wallet and pulled out the piece of paper i got from the *previous* deputy. "do you know this guy? he's the one i talked to before, so he can verify that i'm not totally crazy. he said he would write up a memo so you guys wouldn't have to bother with me, but i guess it didn't work this time...." she was actually really nice about it and didn't waste massive amounts of my time. she still wanted a phone number and to see my ID and asked where i worked. seriously, i really need to talk to a real criminal justice person: i am sick of having to show ID for something that does not require a license (and she did verify that i don't need a license to run, so small victory there, i guess).

then, i remembered about my gender/women's/african-american-studies professor friend who i have been meaning to give a guest lecture for. my theory is to, of course, provide a window into how a white person can get the foggiest idea about what it's like to be, uh, not white. blah blah blah, go to the mall barefoot, blah blah blah. but, i figure it would be more interesting to also have the police's perspective and even better to have one of the very cops who were called on me to give their side of the story. so, i asked her if she would be willing to do so. oh, man! you should have heard her weaseling this way and that trying to say no without actually saying "no".

in any case, it was a boring crime day in the county because about halfway through, another deputy drives us and hops out to stand around in a pose intended to be impressive. i'm not sure that it really works because having seen it 2/3/4 times before, i'm not exactly intimidated by it. and if i wanted to run away, let' just say that i can probably run faster and farther than he can anyway. not enough to outrun bullets, but still.... and he had to maintain the facade and not even respond to your basic, "have a good afternoon!" upon parting. strong work getting the community on your side.

anyways, so i continued my run and was thinking, "but what about that lady in the cadillac? how come there are no consequences for her?" as fate would have it, the deputy had turned around and was coming back my way. so i flagged her down and said, "so, what am i supposed to do as a runner when a car behaves that way? let me tell you the backstory to you getting called....(yeah, yeah, yeah, i know it is anonymous, but 9 out of 10 says it was the cadillac not the friendly farmers who always wave to me...) can i call the cops on them? i mean, it is really scary when somebody is stalking you like that. and it is probably easier to call you guys than get a concealed carry permit."

she was like, "yeah. you shouldn't have to deal with that and you shouldn't feel unsafe out here. so go ahead and call it in if you feel like someone is making you feel unsafe or threatened. and then we'll come and check it out..."

so that was that.

since i had enough of an inkling of what was going to happen, this episode made me laugh as opposed to the previous episodes that left me really shaken. this one ended up more on the "faith in humanity" end of the spectrum rather than "weep for humanity" end. but, still: really people? come on. mind your own business. once in 18 months is better than the once every 6 months i had previously been averaging. but still, it should be "none-ce" in "ever".

and there is always one more thing you think of after the fact: when i flagged her down, the first thing she did was to put her phone down and say, "hold on, i'll call you back." ummm... as a law enforcement person, you *are* aware that it is illegal in the state of illinois to talk on the cell phone while driving, right? (ok, you can get away with hands-free; but if it were hands free, you wouldn't have to put it down, now would you....)

 

In sunny Versilia, Tuscany we have plenty of people running, but so few of them barefoot. If I remember well we are a small number ranging from 6 to 8 depending on the season.
The usual reaction of non-running people -a huge moral majority- is widening their eyes, shaking their heads and saying something offensive.
If someone cheers you and shows you his approval, you can be sure it's not a resident.
Once a danish Young lady riding her bycicle, followed me for a while truely smiling and she left me with a 'I knew I'd met a smart and tough one in this country!'.

 

thanks BroadArrow for sharing your story and thoughts

 

It is harassment! I think you should consider getting yourself interviewed on the local news and telling how ridiculous this is. Aren't police everywhere always claiming they don't have "time and man power" to deal with all the crime that is or has occurred in their area? Surely they could instead be looking for stolen goods that someone has reported?!

 

St Patrick's Day Sunday Run dressed like this and I get zero reactions.

 

so today is a beautiful, warm, sunny, spring day. i am at gymnastics waiting around during my daughter's class and one of the other "gymnastics mommies" tells me: "when we were coming in today, my daughter [who is like 4 or 5] said to me, 'you know that man who never wears shoes? today is a really good day for him not to wear shoes!'"

 

Most frequent reaction is: 'where are your shoes?' 'followed by 'have you forgotten your shoes?'

Seriously? I sometimes forget my lunch or even on rare occasions my wallet, but does anyone forget their shoes?

 

I'm so used to driving barefoot that I have, on several occasions, driven to work and realized when I got there I didn't have any shoes. I keep a pair of steel-toed work boots in my office for the rare occasion I need them, so when I forget my shoes I walk barefoot to my office and I end up wearing the boots. Although I have a standing desk, and frequently work barefoot anyway.

 

Sorry, let me rephrase: does any shod person ever forget their shoes? I'm sure not.

 

Actually I have. This winter I worked out at a health center to use indoor track and treadmills, and they require me too wear footwear. There have been about 3 times where Ive shown up walking barefoot into the locker room only too find that i had left my Xero running shoes at home.

 

Most gyms have a rule like that, probably because they are worried you will drop a weight on your foot. That's daft because you wouldn't be carrying a weight on the treadmill. Also, with ordinary trainers you would still probably break a bone if you dropped a weight.

 

New one tonight. A car stopped behind me then drove past me very very slowly. The front passenger was videoing me on her phone! Brazen, window down, grining!

 

One time I had a formal business meeting an hour's drive from home. 30 minutes into the trip I realized I was driving barefoot with suit and tie and no shoes!! The next 30 minutes were spent trying to think of how and where to buys some shoes so I wouldn't walk into a client meeting barefoot! Luckily, I came upon a Marshall's where I was able to find a cheap pair of leather shoes. It was quite an adventure.

 

Just had a mostly standard one just moments ago. When I parked at the um... park... to run, a family was parking at the same time and saw me start my run. Well 40 minutes later, run is over, they're still there hanging out by their car and since mine is right next to them We're essentially neighbors at this point.
As I'm opening the door, the mother asks, "How do you run barefoot like that?!"
"The same way you run with shoes," I say.
They all got a laugh out of that and they asked a couple more questions and made a few comments that essentially boiled down to "Hey man you're real tough, wow, much impress, very run."
As I'm getting into my car though, their little 2 year old leans out the window and asked me in the cutest lil chillin voice "Do you have stink on you?"
I responded "Probably" and then said goodbye.

I'm honestly only sharing this encounter because of the difference in what the parents versus their small child were worried about, to further highlight the obvious fact that barefoot being weird is only a cultural thing (But also because that kid was real cute in how worried about me he seemed).

 

I had probably my best reaction yet this morning. I went for a run on the boardwalk. I had my ear buds in listening to music. As I approached a gentleman walking two Dachshunds he pointed at my feet then the dogs feet and gave me a big thumbs up. I gave a thumbs up back and we both laughed.

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