Duct Tape Running Sandals

"What the hell are those" somebody said as I ran by. "Those are awesome!" their friend said. They may be awesome, they may be trash, they're actually kinda both.
The busted blisters in between my toes from the long sand run this weekend were healing slow but I needed to get out for a cruise. Grinding dirt and road crime into my wounds seemed like a bad idea so I opted for a little protection. I didn't feel like putting on the old Nikes but I didn't have an alternative. So I had to make one. I found invisibleshoe.com had good instructions on making huaraches. I didn't have the materials that would make the classic huaraches but what I did have was a junk drawer.
A little cardboard, some nylon twine and old roll of silver duct tape was all it took to fashion these bad boys. The trash sandals worked surprisingly well and the same run that killed my feet last week was a breeze today. They are a temporary solution but if I need to 'resole' them a little more duct tape should do the trick.

Happy people flood gorgeous beaches

Fourth of July weekend and the beach is going crazy. People are having fun and spending time with friends, families and neighbors. Truly a beautiful day. On my barefoot run down the beach across channel islands Harbor I saw adults and kids alike buried up to their necks in sand, skim boarding, playing in the surf and relaxing under umbrellas. I spent most of the run in the soft sand but after a few miles the skin in the small of my toes was 'sandblasted' off, blistered and throughly painful. It must be the coarse sand squeezing between my toes. They say that sand diminishes your productivity by as much as 60 percent. So if I ran about five miles I guess that means I ran more like 11? I felt great and could have kept going but the skin of my toes was telling me to pull back into the beach party for a cold one. Gotta love the summer in California.