Day 3, running barefoot in downtown Calgary

Wednesdays are good day around here. Kyle works from home so that I can take the 3 older kids to piano lessons. Their lessons last an hour and a half. Glorious time all to myself, of course I spend it running.

Today I ran from Bridgeland into downtown Calgary in a loop. (See run here) It was nice, a little cool out but with the sun it was fantastic. I started off in my Bikilas. Feeling good no pain, I notice that I hit the ground harder in my vibrams than I do barefooted. Hmm.

Pathway along Memorial Drive

Just shy of a mile I came across some smooth looking path and decided to lose the shoes.

Nice smooth path. 

I took my shoes off and hung them on my carabiner. See Kyle had this great idea to hook a carabiner onto my spibelt so that I could hook my vibrams on and go barefoot whenever I wanted without having to carry my shoes. This is a great plan and it worked really well. Even better, I thought, was that I could hook my key fob onto it as well instead of putting it in my spibelt with my phone.

I ran a while in my bare feet and loved every second of it. Well except for that second where the two men in the bushes scared me half to death, that wasn't so much fun. I did learn though that I can run fast barefoot.

A little further along I came to some pretty tough path, well tough for me it was starting to hurt my feet so I stopped, took some pictures of my feet and put my vibrams back on to continue my run.

Ouchie pathway. Seriously it was rougher than it looks.

Left foot looking good and dirty.

Right foot looking good too. And a bonus shot of downtown.

So here is where the fun began. A couple steps away from where I sat to put my shoes back on I realize that I don't have my key fob anymore. Remember it was on the carabiner with my shoes. So I start back checking the leaves along side of the path. I'm thinking that it must have fallen off either when I put my shoes onto the carabiner or took them off. I am hoping it was when I took them off. A couple more steps back and look what I found.

Lost key fob

 Ok on with the run. I was unsure of how far I could run today because I thought I may be slower in my vibrams and barefoot so I decided to cross over the Prince's Island bridge into downtown. I should note that downtown scares me. Until I started running I would never have set foot downtown outside of my van. However it is super beautiful and I am so glad I did. I even took a short video for you guys. Fun Times.

Beautiful smooth path. Riverside pathway downtown. 

Shortly after this I found some more smooth path and kicked off my shoes again. It is amazing how great it feels without my shoe. I did get a number of looks. One lady gave me a look that could only be described as disgust. I'm not sure if it was because I was barefoot or if it was because I was barefoot and passing her. Another man can running up a small hill pushing a jogging stroller. He smiled as I passed and then I caught him looking back, I think checking to see if he really just saw bare feet. The best was the two guys who told me to watch out because there was broken glass ahead. I thanked them and kept my eyes peeled. There was glass ahead but I remembered to relax and keep my feet light. No problems no glass in my feet.

The last part of my run had me run across another bridge, past a 'tent city' and back into Bridgeland. On the bridge I had the best running buddy although he was much faster than I was. I have no pictures of the 'tent city' because I was quite worried and ran quickly past.

My friend the squirrel. He was stuck on the bridge, trying to get away from the crazy lady with the camera.

Finished my run with a final mileage of 4.71 miles. Barefoot miles: 2 Vibrams: 2.71. I treated myself to a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino and headed out to pick up the kids.