I live in a beautiful part of the world and the great weather makes it an ideal place to bare foot train for marathons. HOWEVER, a form of elephantiasis was once present in our Islands and was caused by the inflammatory effects of nanoparticles of silica from our volcanic soils passing into the skin of the feet. The presence of elephantiasis left with the use of shoes. I know this can be a problem in Ethiopia too and even bare foot runners from there have campaigned "ironically" to collect shoes for their country.
I could still incorporate beach running on occasion, but it isn't practical to do beach training for all my training kilometers as I train for 5 - 7 marathons a season.
If you lived in a place in the world where elephantiasis was once present due to bare foot living & working, would you consider true bare foot running even on asphalt? ... or just wear running sandals and wash feet well after training? or wear VFFs?
I have contacted different organizations that work with this illness, to get there input, but wanted to get Bare Footers input or thoughts. I would appreciate any ideas you might have.
I will let you know if any elephantiasis organizations reply to my letters as it could be an issue for other training at mild to high altitude volcanic areas. ...seeing a recent post about bare foot running in volcanic areas.
I could still incorporate beach running on occasion, but it isn't practical to do beach training for all my training kilometers as I train for 5 - 7 marathons a season.
If you lived in a place in the world where elephantiasis was once present due to bare foot living & working, would you consider true bare foot running even on asphalt? ... or just wear running sandals and wash feet well after training? or wear VFFs?
I have contacted different organizations that work with this illness, to get there input, but wanted to get Bare Footers input or thoughts. I would appreciate any ideas you might have.
I will let you know if any elephantiasis organizations reply to my letters as it could be an issue for other training at mild to high altitude volcanic areas. ...seeing a recent post about bare foot running in volcanic areas.