Dont you worry about stepping on glass ?

#21
Scratch said:
When in the woods, I do keep a vigilant eye out for copperheads. The dangerous thing about them is they don't have a slither off instinct, they tend to freeze and in some environments blend in well enough that you can step on them. Getting bit by one doesn't mean they'll envenomate you, as poisonous snakes don't like to waste venom on something they can't eat. But the younger they are, the better chance of them squirting venom into you. The young ones are always the stupid ones.
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I saw a nature show in which they did some tests on copperheads. What happened was that just stepping on a copperhead
usually didn't annoy it sufficiently. To really get one to bite you had to try to pick it up.

That didn't help one of my barefooting friends, though, when he stepped on one (while bushwhacking in southeastern Ohio). It did bite him, and he spent the night in the hospital (with quite a bit of pain).

I'd also note that "a vigilant eye" doesn't work all that well for copperheads, since they have such good camouflage.
 
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#22
Well I do worry about stepping on glass as I think I have had my share of it in my feet already. The last glass I had stepped on took 3 days before I could get it completely dug out of the palm of my foot. It was a very fine hard to see splinter about 1/4" long. Some of the glass I have had problems with has been such finely broken pieces that it cannot be seen when lying on old asphalt and seems to lurk in the cracks and shadows of the rock the asphalt is made of. This is why I now carry tweezers on all my barefoot runs! :nurse:

Once I stepped in a pile which was first believed to be poop but after turning around and further inspection realized it was a pile of chewing tobacco someone had spit out. :eek: I too have stepped on some squashed toads that have been ran over by cars. They can be especially disgusting if they are still wet. :woot: The only things I have been chased by are dogs, mosquitoes, and people in wearing shoes. ;)
 
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#24
Worse thing I've stepped on is a rock. Thought I broke my toe. Took a month or two to be back to normal. Rocks just blend in, an often on the pavement I'm not really expecting or paying attention.
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Thing is, once you hurt a toe, you'll end up somehow doing nearly the exact same thing 3 more times before its completely healed.
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Rocks have been the worst for me. I've been felled twice, in my short barefoot running career, by landing on a rock with my heel--the same heel. Like Tristan said, I wasn't expecting or looking for rocks, and like Laura said, I re-injuried that same place several times.
 
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#25
I once came across a dead hedgehog: killed and flattened by a car, it's sharp spines well spread on a large part of the road.
Stepped into a dead frog instead (to avoid the hedgehog), kinda slippery experience.... :p
So far I've never got hurt on glass, but I've acquired some involuntary experience with stepping on brambles and extracting their tiny thorns from my feet. :nurse:
 
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#26
Refoman said:
Rocks have been the worst for me. I've been felled twice, in my short barefoot running career, by landing on a rock with my heel--the same heel. Like Tristan said, I wasn't expecting or looking for rocks, and like Laura said, I re-injuried that same place several times.
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I'm normally OK with rocks, and have gotten good at quickly collapsing my weight by flexing my arches and bending my knees in order to absorb the surface's superficial blows and sass-back, but it's time for my annual heel fissures now, and whenever I step on a rock directly below a fissure, it definitely takes a few steps of madly searching for something ultra pleasant to think about--like my wife's pooper, or the tremendously pleasant impending succession of seasons--before the pain dissipates. Once the sharp shooting sting is gone though, I appreciate the little neurological reminder that I am fully alive and wetly electric.
 
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#27
Bare Lee said:
I'm normally OK with rocks, and have gotten good at quickly collapsing my weight by flexing my arches and bending my knees in order to absorb the surface's superficial blows and sass-back, but it's time for my annual heel fissures now, and whenever I step on a rock directly below a fissure, it definitely takes a few steps of madly searching for something ultra pleasant to think about--like my wife's pooper, or the tremendously impending succession of seasons--before the pain dissipates. Once the sharp shooting pain is gone though, I appreciate the little neurological reminder that I am fully alive and wetly electric.
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Might want to do some moisturizing for your heels. I've been using Flexitol and it's done a good job with a crack that developed in my left heel. My guess is that our evolutionary ancestors probably weren't washing with soap and water every day, so they probably didn't lose as much moisture through their feet as we do. So unless we're willing to forego daily showering/bathing, we probably need to do some moisturizing from time to time.
 
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#28
Scratch said:
Might want to do some moisturizing for your heels. I've been using Flexitol and it's done a good job with a crack that developed in my left heel. My guess is that our evolutionary ancestors probably weren't washing with soap and water every day, so they probably didn't lose as much moisture through their feet as we do. So unless we're willing to forego daily showering/bathing, we probably need to do some moisturizing from time to time.
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Yah, I got some Hemp Foot Protector,
41LwweZJKQL._SX450_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046XL5U6/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and it helps, but the annual fissures seem inevitable. I usually get them in the spring, after rebuilding my calluses, but last year I ran barefoot a lot throughout the winter, so apparently the process had been delayed. I thought perhaps this year without the seasonal waxing and waning of plantar development, I had the dry cracking licked, but it seems not.

I don't know about our ancestors, but our cousins in Africa have the same problem, and in Mozambican Portuguese (probably all varieties of Portuguese?) there's even a specific word for heel fissures: rasga-manta ('blanket-ripper'). My mother-in-law in particular thought it was pretty funny that a white man could have feet that looked like a villager's. I do scrub my feet before entering the shower, but I never use soap on them (although the soap from my pits and privates runs over them on its way to the drain), so I'm not sure there's much I can do, except maybe put the hemp creme on right afterwards, as you suggest.
 
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#29
JosephTree said:
???como un langosto with claws and a tail?
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Si Jose pero estaba muy pequeno y el pobrecito se miro my asustado con mi precencia.
Pare de correr hasta que el se fue al arroyo.
 
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#33
Ahcuah said:
The magic ingredient for cracks is not moisturizer or oils, but urea. That's why Flexitol works (also Gold Bond Foot Cream).
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But putting olive oil all over my feet every night sure takes care of the problem for me here in dry Idaho. :)
 
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#35
Scratch said:
Might want to do some moisturizing for your heels. I've been using Flexitol and it's done a good job with a crack that developed in my left heel. My guess is that our evolutionary ancestors probably weren't washing with soap and water every day, so they probably didn't lose as much moisture through their feet as we do. So unless we're willing to forego daily showering/bathing, we probably need to do some moisturizing from time to time.
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I noticed when I was in Afghanistan the villagers there had the same fissures in their feet. I also noticed that the camels feet over their did the same thing. I think it is just a part of being barefoot, maybe in certain climates I guess, I dunno.
 
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#36
NickW said:
I noticed when I was in Afghanistan the villagers there had the same fissures in their feet. I also noticed that the camels feet over their did the same thing. I think it is just a part of being barefoot, maybe in certain climates I guess, I dunno.
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Yah, I had reconciled myself to it over the years, but if there's a product that can help, I'm willing to give it a try. Although the masochist in me kind of enjoys toughening it out.
 
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