Running sockless.

Jesus man. Are you that poor? Just go to Target and pick up some cheap ass gold toe's.

If you really can't afford socks, I'll personally start up a "sock fund" here on the board for you.

Good luck.

I do have a strange obsession with running the first run in a new pair of shoes without socks. Always get wicked bad blisters but it's just something I have to do. Course I only get about 1 pair a year but whatever.

I like running without socks, especially if it's raining outside (I have less to absorb rainwater without socks). However, running without socks makes your shoes smell HORRIBLE! It got to the point where I'd have to take them to and from meets inside a plastic bag just to keep my teammates from complaining about the smell. Finally, I just gave in to peer pressure, and started wearing socks all time, instead of just some of the time.

I went sockless for years until some of the athletes I coach started saying it was disgusting. Then they began doing it too. It was always a smelly busride, but I think it is much more comfortable.

I am proud to say I am goind sans socks once again.

the secret to non-smelling shoes is 'no socks'...those little nylon things that cover basically just your toes and heels. plus, they weigh about as much as a grain of rice.

themack

the first poster is correct - in olden tymes we mostly wore the onitsuka tigers or early nike prototypes. the really lucky guys would go and buy adidas if they wanted to buy them out of pocket.

the shoes, too, were much lighter and relatively easy to break in. the only people i know who had blister problems were the ones' who used borrowed shoes which had more or less conformed to the shape of the foot of the previous occupant. yup, shoes were sometimes passed down. at the end of the season at my high school the AD would take all the old shoes, tying the laces together, then store them in a closet until the following year.

i dealt with one pair once; they were nicely fossilized and held together in one spot with athletic tape as the sole had started to separate from the upper.

yeah, real rugged frontier-style running. i remember they were the Cortez.

How much are the gold toes at Target, and do they come in the ankle high styles or the old 70's-basketball knee highs?

Save a Buck wrote:Does anyone still run without socks? I know some old-timers who do, but their shoes are very well broken in....

"...old-timers..."

Duh, you think we're still wearing the shoes we bought 20 or 30 years ago. It's the quality of today's shoes that prevent sockless running. I ran distances of 20 to 40 miles in Brooks, Asics, and Reebok without socks. They had much better liners "way back whenever."

Just for the record, breaking in shoes is sort of like urban legends. As much as you pay for shoes, they should work right out of the box. They don't get better 3 or 4 hours down the trail. If you try on a pair of shoes and they don't feel good, don't buy them.

Ageism is alive and well.

I run in very thin socks. I used to race all the time sockless but lately I've started wearing them again. I figured, if it's good enough for Geb & Tergat, it's good enough for me.

I think not wearing socks is kind of gross. When you wear socks, all of the sweat and bacteria and whatnot is (mostly) collected in the sock. You then take them off at the end of the run, wash them, and wear them again. Most people don't wash their shoes at all. So that bacteria just collects and collects inside the shoe, hence the awful smell. Now for racing I sometimes don't wear socks, but while training I always do.

What...so the socks somehow retain all the sweat? No, they are drenched and it gets all in the shoe anyways.

I prefer to run sockless, but the only one I have been able to do so without blister in the 3 shoes that I tried to was the Streak Vapor 4, that was fine.

Streak Vapor 4: perfect

Asics magic racers: I forgot socks and had to do a workout in these barefoot, brutal, messed me up for a week.

old school waffle trainer replica: Blistered for a while, now okay.

I only go sockless in my race shoes only.

Tried the really thin nylon socks but they do not grip the shoe. Instead my foot slides around in the shoe. I find that the bare foot grips the inside of the shoe better with no slipage.

I haven't run in socks in almost a year. I just don't like them. And I've never raced in socks ever.

I decided to run sockless once on an out and back 10 miler. At about 5 miles my feet were bleeding. It was one of my worst runs ever.

Do you have concrete shoes?

I haven't worn socks in five years, even in the winter in Maine. I hate having to wash them all the time.

With running shorts or shirts, you can just take them in the shower with you after you run. Same thing with shoes if you cycle between two or three pairs.

With socks, you need to use a machine. Annoying.

Take off your shoes and shower in your singlet/tee and shorts?

BRILLIANT!!!!

Then just hang them out to dry.

Save a Buck wrote:

How much are the gold toes at Target, and do they come in the ankle high styles or the old 70's-basketball knee highs?

That's where I get mine. I don't think they're Gold Toe brand. I like the thin coolmax in low or anklet styles. ~2/$5

There is always some dude selling socks for cheap at the local flea market...I get like 10pr for $10

Is your first name led?