alternative tie method.......invisible shoe

SONJAbean did the original video here with full directions......




Then I did something a little different with finishing off the tie. I was trying to get a bit of a cleaner look. Pardon me this is my first video. As seen below......

My weekend runs.......

Hi all,

This weekend a did two runs......

The first run was my first trail run. I have explained in past that my local trails have a crushed rocked type top surface. So this makes it a challenge to walk/run on barefoot. I have been super interested in trail running, but needed to fine tune what I would wear on my feet. Wear on my feet to combat the gravelly type surface. Well I ordered a build your own invisible shoe.
My first run was two miles with the invisible shoe. I must say I had a wonderful time on that short run. I was so impressed the the invisible shoe, and just really excited on how much ground feel I had. While at the same time having the protection that I desired. I'll share my review with the shoe at a later time.
My trail running is focused in a local city park called Redwood park. One challenge I face in conditioning at this park. Is that Redwood trees grow on generally steep terrain. So the trails are generally up, or down. Some hills can be rather steep, but at the same time there is a good mixture as far as some level ground, smaller hills, larger hills, etc. To run on that property is a great workout. My calves muscles area will take some time to adapt to that. Other wise I have the leg strength generally speaking, and can handle the cardio aspect just fine.

The second run of the weekend was a beach run of three miles. The weather here has been wonderful in recent weeks. We have actually had a fair amount of sun which is unusual for a Humboldt coast winter. So it's been great to be outside so much ! However the weather pattern is about to take a winter like turn starting tomorrow. Looks like plenty of rain in the upcoming week, and high winds expected for Monday. So I took advantage of a bech run today. It was fun of course.
As the weather front is approaching off the coast it was a bit windy on the run today. Heading north was fine, but southbound trip was a head wind so that made running a bit more of a workout. My legs were only a little sore today from the forest run, but that soreness magnified on the beach run. I'm sure I'll have some sore calves in the morning.

I'm super stoked to have my running salad of beach, and trail runs ! I'd like to discuss on a future post my attitude towards running, and share how I perceive the movement.....

Below pic is me standing inside a Redwood tree at ground level. The very outer layer of redwoods in fire proof. So in the past when their have been fires the center of the tree burns, but the tree may still be standing in some cases even still alive. This is a picture of me looking straight up with the camera, and you can see day light coming in through the crack of tree at top. Got kind of a psychedelic look to it, eh.....

Christopher McDougall - Are we born to run ? (video)

For sale - VFF Treksport mens black size 43

Vibram five finger mens black size 43

Only used once on a 1 mile hike in the woods. So shoe is in new condition accept for that one use. Very minimal dirt on bottom of sole. Other then that the rest of shoes are very clean. The one use they got was with a sock on my feet.

Brand new purchase would be 100 dollars plus tax/shipping. I am asking 85.00 dollars which includes shipping. I accept pay pal only. Contact me if interested, and I will provide my pay pal address.

Please note I do not accept returns as I'm not a retailer. So you need to know this is the size you need. If they end up being the wrong size, or you find you simply do not like them. You will have to resell them on your own terms.

I will only ship within the US.

Product spec info can be found here. See below for pic of my actual shoes for sale......

Children can't be fooled, but they can be taught. Surely the adults can learn from them as well !

Those children....

First off I'll be clear I do not have children.
Going to keep today's post short, but I'll expand on it more at a later time.

Even in the store bare foot with the bottom less sandals on. I can't fool those children. The say "hey you don't have shoes on". Kind of funny I think. Or they stare at my feet as if they are thinking "he does not have shoes on". As if they are jealous, or want to expose me to their parents. It's too funny.

It just goes to show you how we train the children at such a young age. As soon as they can walk we give them shoes. What my problem is with this is they are constantly growing. Putting shoes on them during all this growth just really is not very healthy for their young feet.

If everyone with children could take a step back, and re-evaluate this situation. Can we cut the kids some slack ? Change the mind set to discuss better ways to care for feet. How about shoe free zones at home ? Could we experiment with taking the ideas outside the home ? I really feel are children deserve the freedom to grow with healthy feet, and I hope others would agree.

Starting at a young age with these ideas will also help mold the future. Mold the future of how we look at feet in society. Mold ideas to extinguish all these common misconceptions about feet. I think our feet deserve a second chance to live a free life, and not be sheltered.

Parents..... Can we give the children a chance to explore bare feet ? I really think the children deserve it, and society deserves it. May we at least explore the ideas with our children, and give it a chance ? Setting boundaries is safe, but let's give the bare feet some room to breathe. I think we all would benefit to exploring these ideas. It's not just about BF running. Let's allow the bare feet to experience even more freedom in everyday life. Shall we ? If you already incorporate these ideas then I would like to thank you for doing so.

Remember in every adult is a child. Let your inner child come out to play. Let the young, and old children mold the future of

We will discuss lots more about the children in future posts. I believe as adults we can learn a lot from the children....



Have not ran much lately. Did a 2.5 mile run BF on beach today. So much fun ! Opposite side of ocean are dunes. At one spot I ran up, and down a dune hill. Getting faster, and faster as each round progressed. I did that for about ten minutes with little rest at the end of my 2.5 mile run. I felt like a child running free in my bare feet. Guess I'm still young at heart. Let me play

.....

Hiking in nature........

So I'm exploring the idea of how I want to hike this upcoming season. In regards to my feet, and if I wear something on my feet. In my immediate area we have many opportunities for hiking. County, city, state, federal properties. What I'm finding however is many places lay small crushed rock as a top layer. It gets wet here in winter typically so I think they do this to help with drainage so the trails are not constantly drenched.

For me this crushed small rock is not that friendly to walk on bare foot. It is something that I can walk on, but it is very slow. I don't hike often enough to really condition my soles for this type of surface. If I go into the mountains this is less of a issue. As the mountain forest service trails are mostly dirt. I live on the coast, and gravel top layers on the trails seem to be the norm.

So I'm thinking it maybe good to have something for my feet to wear for hiking when needed. Currently I have a vibram five finger treksport mens in black size 43. My original pair were sent back on a warranty exchange. That took a long time. I have the new pair now. Today I went on a short hike to try the treksport again, and to scout out some trail surfaces. It turns out now that I am a more experienced bare footer I really don't like the treksports. So since I have only worn them once which was today my plan is to sell them. They are of course brand new, and I have cleaned the dirt out of soles as much as possible. When I'm ready to sell them someone will get a nice deal.

So now I need to figure out what will be my trail footwear when I want to wear something. I could use my VFF sprints. I really like those a lot, and don't wear them much. I have paper feet that I don't use too much which I like as well. My next hike will be in the paper feet to see how hiking in them is. I need to determine if they have enough sole. It is possible these will be too thin a sole. We will see. I'm not interested in the Barefoot Ted Luna sandals. As I feel he has very over priced products. Plus I hate the lace between the toes. I'm interested in the nice thin 4mm unshoes, but they have lace between toes. Right now I'm leaning toward the invisible shoe kit to build your own which would be a 4mm sole. I like this option cause the sole is 4mm, and I can customize the lace to not be between the toes. I also much prefer the top of my feet to be exposed in the sandal style, but have a little protection on bottom to hike faster. This will also allow me to not constantly have my eyes in the dirt looking at where my feet are stepping. Another problem I have with bare foot hiking constantly looking at where you are stepping. I prefer to look up, and scan the area with my eyes as I hike.

So I need to make a final decision on the hiking footwear to purchase. Test them out. Once I am satisfied I can then sell the treksports. So I guess I should get on top of this, and get going. The spring is coming, and it will be a good time to sell my treksports. Maybe I should order the invisible shoe kit sooner rather then later.......

Feeling apprehensive about bare footing in stores ?

Don't worry it is fairly normal for the virgin bare footer. Have you considered wanting to take BF activities into stores while you shop ? Well if your new to this activity you'll need to consider a few things before you take the next step.

1. Be ready to get those looks at your feet. Folks may start to pay a lot more attention to you. The ones that are not shy might ask you questions. The rest will try to stare at your feet while your not looking. I encourage folks to hold eye contact with folks as you pass, and a nice big smile. This will leave a nice impression to the onlookers. Oh they were shoeless, but seemed very happy and friendly. It's a good impression to leave.
2. Carry some sort of footwear with you out in your car, or backpack, etc. You may find that you will need them some places.
3. Know that each store will respond differently to this activity. You will be harassed by some stores I guarantee it. This is what you really need to think about. How will you react to store employees confronting you ? You have to decide what your confrontation reactions will be. So know your position on why BF are safe, and know it very well. Cause you will have to promote it. Or you will have to be passive in the situation. It's up to you.
4. Check out front of the store. Are any shoes required signs posted ? Sometimes stores enforce the unfriendly policy, but don't post the policy on a sign. If a sign exists what does the sign wording say ? You can learn a lot about the stores intellect just by their signage wording. Scouting this out prior to entering store can prepare you for possible situations.

If your going to be a advocate of bare feet publicly. You need to be ready to carry yourself in a positive, friendly manner. Folks are curious, but it can also freak some folks out. You gotta know all the common misconceptions cause you will be drilled on them by onlookers.

If your the advocate type in stores with bare feet. You may have to fine tune your shopping experience. What are your options ? This will dictate your decisions. If your approached, and you begin a conversation asking why you need to wear shoes. It is often a manager approaching you, and when you question them. It is not uncommon for them to become very defensive in your asking questions. You just have to stand your ground, and make them realize your not the average shopper. You may have to fold under their policy, but it's not over. Continue the conversation if you really want to advocate. Most all managers have email on the store web site if one exists. Send them BF literature. Make it none to them who you are, and that your not going away.
The other option is to not shop at the store any longer. do you have an alternative that is BF friendly ? If so certainly support that store, and tell the other store you won't be spending money with them anymore.
Maybe your options are limited, and you need to shop at the unfriendly store. Well their are ways around this as well. Like shopping when the manager is not working in begin, or end of day shift. Also some very minimal footwear can be purchased that should meet your needs. You'll only need to wear them for short time periods.

The bottom line is you can really personalize your experience based on your needs. You really need to educate yourself with the many sources found on the internet. Many of those sites listed on the right side of my blog. The best bare footer is a educated one. Then you need to gain real time experience in the stores. Depending on where you live your results will really vary. I have been very fortunate, but you may find less fortunate results.

I could blog all day about this stuff. You'll read much more about this from me in future posts. In closing I just want us to expose bare feet. The more we expose the more society will become more comfortable with it.

Being bare foot in stores is a wonderful feeling. If you have not yet be sure to give it a try. Just work at a pace you are comfortable with. Afterall this experience is about you first. Then expanding the experience to others to embrace. Whatever you do your comfort level is most important. Just show folks that it can be done, and be done safely.

Stay tuned for more tips, and my personal experiences in future posts. If you like what you read here. Be sure to tell your brethren about this blog. I'm not BF runner focused. My focus is to promote bare feet in our everyday activities. Let's unite and spread the positive sensations !

I find being barefoot allows me to live even more happy. Let's make a more positive/healthy society which begins with our feet. Get folks paying more attention to their feet. It's so simple a idea that gets overlooked by many
......

Don't let your feet live a sheltered life !

Pic is a few blocks from plaza in Arcata, CA, USA. Taken as the sun was rising over the distant fickle hill.