bare footing it

my favorite photo of husband, taken by Dustin Butcher 

I am surprised no one said anything. Running down out of the trail with naked tops our shirts tied together in a make shift shoe cover for Jeremy. We sort of looked like we were coming down out of a really wild adventure lost in the woods, not just a short 4 mile run on the trail that runs right by the town.
My husband gets these fantastical ideas that he is some sort of half man half furry creature. Also inspired by his reading of Born to Run and the barefoot runners he decided on this particular morning that he was going to run completely barefoot.
The last year or so we have been running off and on in the vibram five fingers but a combination of mountain creature fantasies and his reading got him and me into this shirtless scenario.

The first part of the run wasn't so bad - paved for a little bit, then into a fairly well packed dirt trail. We ran up the dirt trail passing one runner who shouted out,
"wow, now the vibrams I can understand but totally barefoot that is so bad ass"

"Oh great," I thought, "don't encourage him."  Next thing I know he is going to move us into the woods to hunt and kill wild animals with our bare hands gnarling into the flesh with the beautiful canines that both our parents spent some good modern dental care to perfect.

So we continued up the mountain, running our usual dirt path looping up and curving around ready to come down when the trail turned a bit too rocky for my barefooted man. He also had a bleeding toe from an accidental stubbing. So we stripped down and wrapped our shirts around his feet to make a little padding and coverage for the rest of the run. We really only had less than a quarter mile before the trail hit pavement again and I could get my dirty shirt back.
So here we are, one grown man in short shorts, shirtless, with one red shirt wrapped foot and one blue wrapped foot sort of running, really kinda just hobbling. And his curvy partner in a bra and running shorts that cinch a bit too well, creating a fleshy tire around the mid section that usually can be covered with a shirt.  I am not really the type that should be running through town in a sports bra, definitely too much movement with the girls no matter how tight and restricting my sports bra is.

Maybe this is why no one commented on us two as we ran down out of the mountain, pasty, soft and all that bouncing around might be too alarming for words on a serene morning. We did pass a few morning hikers who acted like this was completely normal for a Thursday morning giving us the typical polite hellos, beautiful morning and such.
We eventually made it home, all toes included, to quickly shower and get out the door to join the shoe wearing world for a day of study and work.
As I sit here tonight folding our fresh laundry, those shirts included, I can't help but smile and glance up at the creature reading on the couch and get excited for what may be next.