Saturday, March 12, 2011

The WorstThing About Running Barefoot...

...is having snappy comebacks for all the comments I get from my so-called "friends" who see me out running sans footwear.  I mean, around where we live where it's such a closed community, you can seriously only use a given reply a few times before it gets lame and stale.  A sample of some of my retorts:
  • "What do you mean I'm not wearing shoes?" (look down at my feet)  "Woah, you're totally right, I'm not wearing shoes!  I should probably run home and get some..."
  • "Shoes are just an artificial construct, engineered by The Man to keep a Brother down."
  • "I'm trying to run down the guy that stole my shoes.  Let me know if you see him." (Tried this one for the first time tonight)
  • เกิดมาไม่มี ตายแต่เอาไม่ได้ (keut ma mai mee, tai tae ao mai dai - "I was born without shoes, and I can't take them with me when I die").  This I think has been quite clever, at least for those who speak Thai or Lao.
Of course it would be great if those same so-called "friends" could come up with something a bit more creative than, "Hey, you forgot your shoes!"

By the way, the second worst thing about running barefoot is stepping on snails.  Trust me folks, it's pretty gross.

3 comments:

  1. what else do you step on besides snails??!! I'd be afraid of catching something running barefoot!

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  2. I've stepped on worms several times and at least one dead frog. Fortunately where we live they sweep the streets daily, and people are generally pretty good about cleaning up after their dogs, so I haven't stepped in any of that.

    I don't worry about catching anything, because I don't run if I have any open sores on my soles. Besides, you can't get ringworm and nasty parasites like that unless you're stepping in infected human feces. As a rule I try and avoid that stuff.

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  3. My dad used to run barefoot with his cross country team---I don't understand the appeal but he said they had some tough skin spray that they sprayed on the soles of their feet to toughen then up. I think I'll stick with my pumice stone...I like soft feet. :)

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