Beware of BFES

Well, the weekend came and I was raring to go barefoot. I had a bum bag (that's "fanny pack" to American speakers) containing fivefingers, wet wipes and tweezers, and was wearing running tights, long sleeves and a warm hat. Air temperature at head height was a few degrees above freezing but there was still some ice on the roads and there was a light breeze. I was armed with my recent lesson in barefoot form. What could possibly go wrong? Well, let me tell you. Some barefooters, including Andy, whose advice pages I've linked to from the "Why lose the Shoes" tab, will reassure us that, as long as we are wrapped up warmly and giving our feet a good workout, there's probably nothing to worry about in such conditions. My experience just reinforced the principle of not doing Too Much Too Soon (TMTS). This is a common consequence of BareFoot Exuberance Syndrome (BFES). I planned the run so that I'd get plenty of good quality tarmac to start off with, followed by a choice between more tarmac and some off-road stretches. It felt great. I loped easily along the roads and lanes that led away from the village. I wasn't going fast, but I wasn't tiring at all, either. I did, however, notice a slight numbness on the soles of my feet. I ran through a couple of icy puddles at the bottom of Hartley Bottom Road, then decided to head up the hill on the muddy footpath across a ploughed field. After that, there was a further stretch of muddy footpath before a return to the roads. "What a twit", I hear you scream; "why didn't you put your shoes on as soon as you started to feel numb?" I know, I know! It's just that it felt so good! The result? Chilblains that took a day to disappear and blisters and punctures with foreign objects that I didn't even know I had. So let that be a warning to all you tenderfeet out there: you will want to do too much too soon. You must be strong and resist the pull of BFES.