Day 20 - Stone. Ouch. Hurts.

Today I experienced an important rite of passage for a barefoot runner. I stepped on a stone. And it hurt.

I was running into the playing field off Main Street in the village as the track descended beneath a few trees, and my left heel homed in on a stone on the path. Perhaps I wasn't looking carefully. Maybe it was because I entered a shady patch after coming out of bright sunlight and didn't have time to adjust my eyes. Or it could have been the dappled sunlight across the path that made it difficult to make out the terrain. Whatever it was, I found the stone and let out the quietest yelp.

There was a time last year when I was bitten by a dog will running along a canal path. It hurt a bit but I was a good 50 metres down the path before I'd really taken in what had happened and looked back to see a rather embarrassed looking owner. So I just carried on and grumbled occasionally. This was similarly in that I felt the pain but carried on running while I decided what to do, by which time I was onto the grass and into my run.

I'd read plenty about people bruising the sole of their feet in barefoot running and getting on with the run anyway, so I didn't think of stopping. I'd read about one guy running the marathon who decided not to use his barefoot shoes - not for reasons of support or muscle fatigue but because he didn't want to stand on a stone in the first mile and have to carry that for 25 more. It seems that it's par for the course for barefoot runners and you jus live with it. I found that with my landing being mid to forefoot on the grassy surface, the pain wasn't particularly exacerbated by any more landings. I was just aware of it nagging away, so I pressed on with my 2 mile run.

It was somewhat more sore once I stopped running and walked back up the hill home. Now I was definitely heel striking and feeling it with every step. I adopted what I considered to be the most subtle limp I could manage (I was a bit embarrassed about appearing injured when all I'd done was trodden on a stone) until I'd made it through the door. Inspection revealed nothing - it will interesting to see if I have a bruise tomorrow and how much it actually hurts. These things often take 24 hours or so to really kick in.