Those damn five fingers

Something to know about me. When I find something that catches my interest, and has more than one dimension to it, I get a little, um, obsessive about learning all there is to it. Take something as simple as make-up (no, it is not one dimensional). Need to know its history? How far back does it's use go REALLY? Was Max Factor a real person? I'm your girl! I know all the things! Well, almost all the things. I'm quite sure it's impossible for any one person to know all the things about anything. What about pin-up art and the artists who created them? Oh, don't get me started! And that's just hobby stuff. I am way super obsessive when it comes to the human body. It is so incredibly amazing to me. So finally deciding to look into this Paleo thing as you can imagine has given me a lot to obsess over.

I've been reading tons of blogs. In addition to hunt gather love http://huntgatherlove.com/ I've also been going through the extensive archives of Mark's Daily Apple www.marksdailyapple.com and because of him and all his barefooting glory, I decided to get "those ugly toe shoes" as I've been calling them since I first saw them at a baseball game a couple years ago. I ordered the least ugly pair I could find over the weekend, and they came in a couple days ago. Yep, still ugly. But I was excited none the less.

Took them out for a spin the day I got them. They're really hard to put on. Getting all my little tootsies in their own little pockets is a challenge.

As for walking in them? It's weird mentally for me. Really, really weird. And keep in mind, I go barefoot around my house all the time-no shoes allowed past the front hall. I get nasty looks from people in my complex because I go to the office to pick up packages with no shoes on. Same thing when I go pick up my mail. If I'm working out at home...no shoes. I only wear shoes when socially required to do so, so no shoes is not normally a big deal for me. But I felt almost naked. Seriously. Who would think that something as simple as footwear would have such an effect? I have to admit, I already felt slightly exposed because I've been taking my walks in a tank and shorts. I do not wear shorts. I have only one pair of shorts! They're for working out/walking only. So then I throw these almost not shoes on, and voila! I feel like I may as well be walking around the park in my undies.

The actual feeling of the shoes is interesting. I pretty quickly stopped noticing that there was something between my toes. I noticed that my strides naturally got shorter (not that with my little legs they were all that long to begin with!). I could feel everything, but at the same time my feet felt safe. When I walked on rocks, I could feel that they were sharp, but they didn't poke my feet or hurt. What was most awesome was walking in grass. I could feel the crunch of grass that hasn't greened up yet. I could feel the coolness and softness of nice fluffy green grass.

Those little bastards gave me a blister though. On my Achilles tendon. Not the pad that's supposed to prevent rub. No. The stitching where that pad is attached to the rest of the shoe! Oh well, that's what band-aids are for right? I'll buy some mole skin and all will be fine I'm sure.

I will keep wearing them for my walks. My feet feel good. They do feel like they're actually being used more. All the little muscles and tendons and connective tissue are ever so slightly sore. But it's the good sore, so I'm not complaining.

Maybe shortly I will take the dive and do a couple sprints in them...

And on a totally unrelated note, I saw a mama duck and her little babies! So stinkin cute. I of course did not have my phone with me to take a picture.