Today's Barefoot Walk With Options

I need to be at a destination today by 2:30pm. It's all walkable. I do have to wear flip flops when I get there. The walk itself is barefootable.

The straightahead route: very short stretch of asphalt, transition to very short section of brick tile, sidewalk the entire way there except for crossing the street on gravel asphalt once. About one and a half miles. Temperature in the low to mid 80 degrees F range means the main thing to pay attention to is not overstriding due to rougher sidewalk tiles. Done.

Options:
I can take a one way 3/4 loop around the neighborhood starting to the right and then clockwise, down a moderate hill, and then the almost all sidewalk. The loop is almost all blacktop so I could avoid shade and only walk on the blacktop and the small sections of bricks. At most, this will get hot around the neightborhood, but not even close to ow hot start having to tense up while walking. Not enough time for standing.

I can do the straightahead route but deliberately walk on the finer but still rough enough asphalt next to the sidewalk, when it is safe to do so without a lot of traffic. As with rougher sidewalk, I would have to avoid overstriding, some extra heat would occur due to friction, but still nothing ow hot enough.

Pedestrian crossings: I do have the option to stand on metal plates, off and on, but that's probably better done on the way home.

Reverse route: I can do all of it. Metal plates at pedestrian crossings, rougher asphalt parallel to the sidewalks or the sidewalks, right back into the neighborhood and full counterclockwise loop, standing periodically for heat absorbtion but unfortunately that blacktop will actually not be as hot since for some reason the peak heat is ending closer to 3pm.

Given the time I will be leaving: the second option to the destination and then obviously the full reverse route back. Dirty soles will be guaranteed, but I'm not trying for extra dirty soles. Scuffed scraped soles will be a definite so there is a risk of friction hotspots or friction blisters if I don't pay attention to not overstriging. I am not anticipating any moments of ow hot! except for standing on and off the metal plates; however, I am prepared for that burned soles will be a definite and yet good for the soles overall for prolonged hot walkin,g because all of the sidewalk will be unshaded, not just the asphalt parallel to the sidewalk and the pedestrian crossings, and the metal plates will be sufficiently hot to stand on but not so sudden I can't use heat relief for an extra second or two.

And that's how city surface barefooting is done for real, with options to heat train there and back, but even the all sidewalk is a normal take-it-as-it-comes surface barefooting, as is standing on the sidewalk that can feel hotter (but no yet ow hot) and I do have to cross an almost ow sharp short section of street. Can't always be grass or dirt, but then again walking on even some dirt is as hot as or even hotter than asphalt.

 

Back from the walk.

So as it turns out, the peak heat was gone so even the metal plates were standable without using heat relief, although I didn't for the repeat two steps and stand heat absorbtion. As I mentioned, some of the asphalt stretches were just rough enough to feel like it might be too sharp, but nothing unbearable with normal stepping and a shorter stride. Only couple of sections were ow sharp enough to wince, but then I was able to handle them with just slightly less of a walking speed but the same step size, and one of those was supposed to be a concrete walking "trail" that had an ow sharp start but then was almost indoor floor smooth sidewalk.

Now, I don't barefoot run... I think it would be too hard on the feet, ankles, and knees... and the ow sharp sections would feel like the soles being jabbed with needles, but anyway: I would like to present some proof that going barefoot doesn't always result in coated blackened soles. This even though extended burning hot asphalt does, but then still larger calluses show whiter through the dirt from also being burned. In my case, they were a lighter darkend dirty sole after this walk... very slightly gray dirty... and I even have lower arches that almost flatten out with each step for a larger dirt pattern, but the calluses did get quite scuffed (especially the toe pads). To be honest, the most difficult part on the sidewalks were the microfine rocks that sometimes stuck in the soles (and if sliding the sole didn't get it out then having to stop and wipe them off the sole had to be done).

Those fairly new to barefooting don't need to be as concerned about blackened dirty soles, except for extended stretches of blacktop and then it doesn't even need to be burning hot to quickly dirty the soles. The soles will get dirty, though, unless it's an indoor floor mopped "barefoot clean".