Home made sandals

Since I have Reynauds syndrome I won't be able to run BF in the colder months. Even with shoes, unless I warm my feet and shoes up first, it takes about 15 minutes of running for my toes to come up to temperature. Even prewarmed, if it's really cold outside--say in the low 20s F or colder, my toes will chill out for a bit before I start to feel flush from running. But last fall when I started the whole barefoot thing, running in running shoes as it got colder just wasn't feeling right. That was about the time I came across http://www.invisibleshoe.com.

I knew from the start that I'd want to try something more than just the standard "huaraches," so I found the soling material available elsewhere on the web and some nylon cord locally. I did make a pair like their standard, but maybe I'm just too used to shoes. They felt really floppy, so I came up with an alternate lacing. To make them, cut them out as described on the IS site. The IS web site also has tips on sizing the holes for the cord you have. Basically, you want it to be a fairly snug fit so they don't loosen up on you. Mark and punch three holes on each side. The first set has one beside the big toe, between the ball of your foot and the pad of the toe; and one in the notch between the tip of the little toe and the fourth toe. The next two are just behind the ball of the foot and the corresponding area behind the little toe. The last two are just in front of the ankle.

For lacing, push each end of a 6 foot length of cord down through the first holes at the toes, then bring them up and cross to the opposite side and down through the next holes. You can put them on at any time to adjust the fit. Push them through on the same side for the third holes, but leave enough to loop around your ankle. Then they just come forward and are tied on the top of your foot with the knot of your choice. If your feet are much bigger than mine (just under 11" long) you may need longer than 6 feet of cord if you want a fancier knot.

I had tried crossing over for the third holes first but found the lacing seemed to slip off my heel alot. It could be that I didn't have them adjusted well enough. Also, it seemed that no matter how I adjusted the fit, my left foot kept sliding off to the left of the sole. That may have been due to how I was running but once I settled on the lacing pictured, both feet were staying relatively centered on the rubber. Once tied, the sandals can be slipped on and off at the heel. To put on the ones pictured, fold the big loops around where your heel would be as in the third picture and insert foot there. (Be sure to have a cat inspect the lacing.)

After you try them out and fully adjust them and see where your feet tend be positioned, you can trim them a little leaving tabs where the laces are. The tabs should lift up and keep the laces from being worn out too much. I found that at first they seemed fairly tight but after a few runs I didn't notice. I'm still doing fairly short runs (< 2 miles) so I don't know if they'll chaff much in the long run.

These helped to keep my feet warm for temperatures over 40F, for the short distances I was starting out with. For longer runs and temps above freezing I had to wear socks. I'll find out next fall and winter if I'll need anything warmer for the really cold temps.