What is the worst thing you've ever stepped on?

[ajb422]

It seems as if one of the most common "dangers" of barefoot running that everyone insists exists is that we are going to step on something that will obviously lead to certain death or at least dismembermant. But honestly I just don't get it. I've only gotten one thing embedded in my foot and it was a pebble that came out on its own a few days later and didn't really even hurt (and this was when I was like a week into bf running so I had no build up of my soles). I've run over broken glass with nothing more than a thought of "hmm wish I had been paying closer attention and avoided that". I think by far the worst thing I ever ran over were some thistles which I easily pulled out and continued on. If you look at the injury forum seldom do you see any real injuries caused by stepping on something, maybe a few posts on how best to remove an object but thats about it. And yet this is the danger that every single article, and every random person focuses on and says we should use VFFs ect... to prevent, even though that will arguably allow for more TMTS injuries.



So I'm curious, has anyone actually stepped on something that lived up to the hype of what critics and worried family tell us? Or better yet have you run over something they claimed would hurt and didn't?

 

[Abide]

I stepped on a cacti needle

I stepped on a cacti needle that went through the sole of my VFF's and my toe on the oustide of my toe nail. It hurt like a mother pulling it back out and through the sole. I was off trail in the desert and haven't been since.

If it would have pierced a thicker shoe is up for debate, my guess is yes.

 

[Barefoot Gentile]

Most disgusting: Skunk guts

Most disgusting: Skunk guts from a road kill.



Most dangerous: Well could of been dangerous. Stepping one inch from a hyperdermic needle, yes the number one question concerning barefoot running, ALMOST happened. That's what happens running barefoot in the urban city.

But glass is always my enemy, lots of glass where I run. People who liter suck.

 

[Matt]

A half-inch to one-inch rock

A half-inch to one-inch rock that left a nasty bruise in the middle of my left foot. But nothing that kept me from running.

 

[NakedSoleNate]

incline/decline with very

incline/decline with very slick mud...sliding uncontrolably over sharp edges of rocks (that when dry I can eaisily run on)...see "definative gross picture thread"...won't be running for a month...maybe more :-(.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I hurdled a dead carcass

I hurdled a dead carcass once, well, twice, because it was a 10K race that had two 5K loops. ;-)

 

[nature runner]

I was barefoot hiking and

I was barefoot hiking and stepped on an old can that was in the wet dirt and I couldn't see it. The metal sliced through the bottom of my foot. No stitches or anything. I kept hiking and the mud clotted it and healed it. I have never stepped on glass, needles, tacks, nails, etc. I have stepped on bees, but that was actually fun, felt good, nature at its best! lol.

 

[saypay45]

Well I didn't step on it I

Well I didn't step on it I suppose, but this winter I kicked a gigantic ice rock with my big toe. It literally cut the tip of my toe off, and I was bleeding everywhere. My dumb ass still completed the last 3 miles out of my 4 mile run. Big trail of blood in the snow. Looked like someone shot a rabbit or something and then it ran away.

But it was so cold it didn't hurt at all.

 

[migangelo]

when we here took a reporter

when we here took a reporter on a bf run i cut the sole of my left foot but didn't notice it at all. i've run over glass without noticing it or cutting myself. nothing more memorable than that.

i once stepped on a piece of gravel that pierced my bikilas. it was sharp and i thank god i had them on but also wonder at the same time if i would've done if i was bf.

funniest thing i've seen.



running behind the c.c. in the woods and this young girl was blowing this young guy. at first i thought she was just tying his shoe, i came up behind them. when i went by i hear her saying "oh my god, oh my god". i knew then what i witnessed. i laughed and kept on going.



Mike

 

[Barefoot Mary]

I stepped in goose poop and

I stepped in goose poop and it squished between my toes...?!

No, but, seriously I did find a shard of glass about the size of a comma in a paperback book in my foot the other day. I must've ran on it and walked barefoot on it for maybe 4 days before it started feeling really weird. The skin around it drew back and created a little crater in my foot and I pulled it out with a needle. The very next day I was running barefoot again, no blood, no nothing. No fun!

Yeah it's not bad at all. I figure that the wonderul feeling of skin-to-ground trumps the once in a very long while injury. I've been barefoot running & walking everywhere for about a year now and it's my first shard of glass. It's the little guys you have to watch out for, the big shards do no harm when lying flat and are easy to see.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Oh yes, I remember stepping

Oh yes, I remember stepping on a bee once when I was about 7 - 9 years old at Balboa Park in San Diego. Was running around barefoot back them too! Hee. Hurt like hell. My mom borrowed a cigarette from a stranger, wet it, and placed it on my sting. The pain went away immediately.

While we're on the subject. I have been trapped by a swarm of bees twice in my life, once when I was about 8 and once when I was about 12. The first time, I crouched low to the ground and they went above me. The sky went black, and the buzzing was deafening. I was frightened. I was surprised they didn't do anything to me. The second time, I tried to out run them and got stung in the butt eight times. Hurt like hell. I needed a lot of cigarettes for that one. ;-)

 

[ajb422]

omg Nate, I normally stay

omg Nate, I normally stay away from that thread. Now I remember why. I hope you heal quickly.

As far as the can and needle go I think that falls into the same category as Abides, you probably would of sliced up your vffs (or whatever) too.

Glad to have avoided the carcasses and feces so far. I'm still concerned about the snails I have to play hopscotch around feeling gross (never actually hit one yet to know), hopefully I get to keep avoiding the real gross stuff.

lol Mike, thats actually really hilarious. She must of really really wanted a running partner.

I totally remember stepping on bees as a kid. Since we never really wore shoes in the summer and our yards were covered in clovers it really was inevitable. I don't remember it feeling all the great, but I guess it didn't scar me from ever going bf again. Weird about the cigarrettes. I've never heard of that before.

 

[pbarker]

Dog doo, yes it is squishy.

Dog doo, yes it is squishy.

Old gum and when I peeled it off i took off an old blister leaving a big hole in my foot.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Yes, but was it warm?

Yes, but was it warm?

 

[stomper]

This is something that has

This is something that has really surprised me. I just haven't stepped on much of anything that's hurt me. Some rough gravel patches were deeply uncomfortable, yes, but not lasting. Two times over 500-1000 miles barefoot I have gotten tiny little bits of glass in my feet and have had to remove them at home. But even that hasn't been happening to me lately. It's not much of a risk compared to the knee pain & such I used to get, running in shoes.

 

[Nyal]

Grossest? Goose poop and

Grossest? Goose poop and maybe dog poop.

Most damaging? I had a metal splinter from a steel radial tire. Was tiny and came out with a needle.

Close calls? I came within a mm of a quantum singularity. It was just on the wrong side of a log. Normal physics cannot describe what would happen beyond the event horizon so I don't know how dangerous it could have been. Maybe it could have fixed my MT for all I know.

 

[mokaman]

Kicking rocks and roots is

Kicking rocks and roots is the biggest risk for me. I once broke a little toe trail running from kicking a rock...thats the worst as it actually kept me from running for a week.

The one that looked the worst happened when I cut through some woods not on a trail, I somehow fell into some brush and sticks. When I got up something was stuck to my shoe...I was wearing thin cross country racing shoes...there was a stick protruding out of the bottom of the heel. It looked like someone shot me in the foot with a small arrow the size of pencil. It went right thru the rubber...when I pulled it out it was bloody...I'm like WTF! So I ran back home a few miles, by the time I made it home the bleeding had stopped then I spent about an hour picking shreds of wood splinters out of the wound. Even though this looked terrible at first it didn't cause me any trouble at all....didn't miss any running from it.

Nate - your foot pictures have to be the worst I've seen from a non frostbite related injury. Barefoot Rick's frostbite pictures look really bad also.

 

[NakedSoleNate]

yeah, it kinda sucks...it's

yeah, it kinda sucks...it's really the ONLY injury I've had...and it's all due to weather ...I did manage some very mild frostbite on four of my toes in Jan....but it didn't keep me from running...this however, it's now been over a week and I still can't walk. it's going to be a while before I can run again...if you didn't take a look at my race report regarding this particular injury (I posted it last week)....I'll link it here too...it really was a "perfect storm" for a bad day for barefooters LOL!! I'm not sorry I did it though. Just a little whiney that it's taking longer than I innitially thought to heal.

http://www.shiftingstrands.blogspot.com

 

[hmduey]

I've stepped on a few little

I've stepped on a few little pieces of glass, but they've never kept me from running.

The other day I was trying some sprints in an open field and ran through a clover patch. Who knew that sandspurs propagate in the same places as clovers? Ugh. I had something like six good-sized spurs stuck in the bottoms of my feet. Unfortunately, I'm just getting back into running after being in a boot for the last half of the winter, so my feet are relatively tender. I now have at least four little spur pieces stuck in my feet! They only hurt when I step on them "just right" though (I can't seem to get them out with a needle) and they look fine so I'm going to leave them to come out on their own.

Otherwise it's just been the usual pebbles and acorns and sticks and stuff.

As a HS senior, walking barefoot in the yard I stepped on the top of a hornets' nest and got stung a few times on the bottom of the foot. THAT was miserable.

 

[Barfuß Chelsea]

I remember stepping on slugs

I remember stepping on slugs as a kid. Nasty.

Running-related, I've only pulled glass out of my foot twice so far, and the first time I didn't even know it was there until I got home. Gentile, you're right! People who litter suck!

I stepped in multiple patches of old, flattened horse manuere a few weeks ago for the first time on purpose, just to get a little relief from the chip and seal.