I was in the mood to put on Pandora for my run today. It's a beautiful day out and the smooth pop rock I had playing was a perfect fit. It was cloudy but the sun would poke out from time to time and once I got moving it wasn't cold at all.

About a mile into my run I felt a sharp pain on my left foot that I thought was a rock at first. The pain only hurt when I put my foot down. When I couldn't find anything I decided to shorten my rout and go bare foot for a spell to see if anything changes. It didn't for the first couple steps but then disappeared so I ran about a quarter of a mile barefoot until the pads of my feet had enough.

I was feeling much better at that point so I decided to change my route to add some mileage instead. Keeping the loop close to home in case I'd have to abort the run. From then on everything went smoothly.

After I got home I inspected my sandals a little closer. I found a small very sharp rock had wedged its way into the bottom of my sandal. It was long enough and sharp enough to account for the sensation I had earlier.

There is a tendon or muscle or something that runs between your big toe and your heel. When you flex your foot you can feel it. I suspect what was happening was before I took my sandals off the rock was positioned directly in line with that tendon. I think it bruised it a little but when I put them back on later the position of my foot in the sandal was slightly different. Enough to avoid the rock for the rest of the run.

Everything else was perfect. No IT band issues (used the strap again) and felt strong the whole way. Woot!