People's reactions when you run

Today I had some folks stop me - to admire my dog - then said - "you don't have shoes." I explained why I run BF and that I have been running for about 4 years. Their next question was: "How does that feel?" That is the first time I have been asked that question. I was a bit taken aback = all I could answer was "Great." - then thought afterwards I could have thought of something a bit more descriptive - so my question is - what would you say to that question?
 
I too have 2 dogs - one black GSD and the other a black and tan GSD that I run one at a time. Often I will meet some folks going in one direction with one dog and then see them going the other way having switched dogs . It really is funny watching people do a double take - or asking "Didn't I just see you with a different dog??"

Back to the subject at hand - I have only ever been asked questions like "Why do you run BF?" or "Doesn't it hurt?" or "Don't you worry about all the broken glass?" or "Why don't you get some of those barefoot toed shoes?" My standard answer to the last one is " I have them on - they're flesh coloured and my mom gave them to me!"
 
I'd love to get that one someday just so I can stop, look at my feet, go "oh shit!", then turn on my heels and start running from where I just came. Just to see the guy's look on his face.

That would be hilarious!
 
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Yesterday, as I was finishing up a nice 6-mile birthday run, a chubby middle-aged woman slowed her mid-sized car in the middle of the exit ramp from West River Parkway to Lake Street and told me that "that will break down your arches." I found myself emphatically waving my finger back and forth and said, "No, no, no, it will build them up." She said her chiropractor had told her that. I told her chiro means 'hand,' not 'foot,' so they're hand practitioners, or hand jobbers, and so didn't know what he (she?) was talking about. She processed that for a sec, and then said she would love to go barefoot. Aha! I see. I changed my tone somewhat and said, somewhat more empathetically, that she should, but remember her feet have been atrophying inside shoes, so look it up on the internet. By then another car had slowed/stopped behind her and there was no place for her to pull over, so she thanked me and pulled away. She seemed pretty receptive and I felt bad about my immediately sarcastic tone. It would've been nice to have given her the basic five-minute spiel on bare feet, shoes, cushioning, evolution, and all that.
 
People rarely regret having been too nice.

...not to say that my well exercised foot hasn't made the trip up and into my oral orifice often enough...
Yes, but thinking a bit more about it now, maybe my mocking expression helped cut to the chase, break down resistance, and get out the key information to someone who turned about to be underlying receptive to the barefoot message in the limited time we had together (i.e., with another car soon to become impatient behind her). You gotta be (a little) cruel to be kind sometimes.
 
Few months ago when I was running on the indoor track and after I finished my run I was outside the track doing some hip releases and this guy told me that my running form looked terrific:) and you know what the best part of this was? he works in orthopedics and he was teaching his patients how to run with a barefoot stride.
I didn't have time to go into details with him cause I needed to go back to work but I am still wondering if he was teaching barefoot form with running shoes or to run true barefoot. Maybe next time I see him I'll ask him.
 
...I found myself emphatically waving my finger back and forth and said, "No, no, no, it will build them up."

...She seemed pretty receptive and I felt bad about my immediately sarcastic tone.

I can't comment on you feeling bad for your tone because that part is up to you. I will say, however, that although I don't want to be rude or contemptuous to a skeptic, if he or she gives an unprovoked comment, I have no problem responding. So far I have not encountered anything nasty but I have received plenty of the "You'll hurt your knees" and "I heard that that is really bad for you" comments. I constantly make a huge effort to not get on a soapbox but if a person is going to give me an opinion, I'll use as a chance to give mine right back.
 
A guy pulled along side me on a mountain bike half way up a steep mile long hill and decided he wanted to chat just at the point i had decided to leave my lungs on the road and go for a hill record.
The usual 'you're brave', 'aren't you too old for this', 'you'll get thorns stuck in your feet' came out so i just put down the hammer and left him squeaking in first gear behind me. I made my record :)
 
Was runnng further away from home today, since I fit my run in while visiting my mom at the hospital. This greenbelt has a lot more people using it and I got "irritated" by the fact that a couple of runners were sort of just out of reach and I would gain then fall back. But I wasn't trying very hard at all so I decided to pick up the pace just a bit, which I founf I could do at a relaxed enough effort. I passed them after a bit, to discover that thet were probably in their late 60's. As I went by, I told them they had inspired me to pick up my pace some. Their response was, "Look at you, you hot, young, fast thing! And barefoot, too" I laughed and said something like, "yeah, right..." but I guess a girl should take what compliments she can get! ;-)
 
Yes, but thinking a bit more about it now, maybe my mocking expression helped cut to the chase, break down resistance, and get out the key information to someone who turned about to be underlying receptive to the barefoot message in the limited time we had together (i.e., with another car soon to become impatient behind her). You gotta be (a little) cruel to be kind sometimes.


100% agree! I have been on the SBL site lately and those (me) weirdos want to go everywhere barefoot! Ive gotten more comments by being barefoot more than just running. And some recent interactions included - librarian said she was worried my barefoot son would step on a tack. I smiled politely and with a little pity, as one would to someone who doesnt know basic things. I was offered slippers in a medical office because. germs. I laughed thinking, "yeah, lets just put germs in our shoes, add heat, moisture and dark. That'll show em!" - I was at the barbershop and the female warned my kids of "hair slivers" like wood only with hair? I had to laugh. I couldnt help it. She said she has gotten them often, but all I could think was, "how damn pointy do you think our hair is?"

So, Im not trying to be rude or mean, but sometimes it really is the best way to get someone to realize "why the hell did I just say that? Do I have any evidence its true? Did someone tell me this? Does what I just said even make sense?"
 
100% agree! I have been on the SBL site lately and those (me) weirdos want to go everywhere barefoot! Ive gotten more comments by being barefoot more than just running. And some recent interactions included - librarian said she was worried my barefoot son would step on a tack. I smiled politely and with a little pity, as one would to someone who doesnt know basic things. I was offered slippers in a medical office because. germs. I laughed thinking, "yeah, lets just put germs in our shoes, add heat, moisture and dark. That'll show em!" - I was at the barbershop and the female warned my kids of "hair slivers" like wood only with hair? I had to laugh. I couldnt help it. She said she has gotten them often, but all I could think was, "how damn pointy do you think our hair is?"

So, Im not trying to be rude or mean, but sometimes it really is the best way to get someone to realize "why the hell did I just say that? Do I have any evidence its true? Did someone tell me this? Does what I just said even make sense?"
I've had hair slivers in my fingers, so she wasn't fooling around with you. You just easily yank 'em out, though. They are not "dangerous" or anything to be worried about.
 
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So, Im not trying to be rude or mean, but sometimes it really is the best way to get someone to realize "why the hell did I just say that? Do I have any evidence its true? Did someone tell me this? Does what I just said even make sense?"

Along those lines, yesterday, a cyclist passed me on the river road. I had my headphones on, but I heard him begin while coming up behind me, shouting "that's dangerous!" Then, "there's a lot of broken glass around here" as he passed me. OK, I'm sorry, but I unleashed my second mocking reply within a week. I told him as he sped away, "I know, this place is full of it, be careful you don't get a flat tire, fall over your handlebars and break your neck!" I don't know if he said anything more, by that time he would've been too far away to override my headphone music.

In other words, for some reason, he assumed the danger of broken glass only applied to me, not him, but really he would probably realize, if he thought about it rationally, that it doesn't pose much of a danger to either of us, otherwise we wouldn't be able to do what we do all the time. Or maybe he had seen some auto glass on the road left over from a fender-bender before getting on the bike/pedestrian path.

The funny thing is, I got stung by a bee on the bottom of my foot right at the beginning of my run, when I stood in the grass to the side of the asphalt path in order to put on my headphones. Two days before, my son got stung by a bee and had an allergic reaction, so we had to take him to urgent care. I just felt a few tingly jolts of venom but by the time I had found an old jam I wanted to listen to, it had passed, and I was able to do my six-mile run without any discomfort.

Now, if the cyclist had said, "be careful, the grass is full of bumble bees," he might've had a point.
 
I was running on the San Francisco bay trail this morning near Oyster Point Marina. A homeless person was coming toward me carrying all of his possessions on his bicycle. As he approached a big smile took over and he loudly said, " wow, a barefoot runner" as if we are the objects of myth like Bigfoot. I responded with a slight chuckle and a warm Good Morning Sir.