The title of this post may justify why my family members smile and nod politely whenever I tell them of my running affairs. The fact that I like blisters, or get excited about getting them may be unusual to a general populous, and maybe even to the running community. But to the even smaller sect that is made up of barefoot runners, blisters are always a welcome sight and a reason to celebrate. And while the experienced barefoot runners are not dealing with soft feet syndrome, I am only a burgeoning barefooter and often loose my tough feet and must break them in again after they soften up.

In fivefingers I almost never get blisters, but since I have been experimenting with my running sandals (also known as huaraches), my feet have been put through the wringer and I have accepted it with open arms.

It all began after getting a good way through Born to Run and by that time I was inspired to do a lot more running than my paltry 2 or 3 miles. Reading 300 pages about runners who are running “ultra” marathons that are 50 or 100 miles long certainly put my record to shame and inspired me. So I strapped on my newly fashioned huaraches and went out, setting my watch for an hour, determined to beat my normal time of 25 minutes. This seemed to work much better than setting a mile goal because I had a commitment instead of a goal. So running for an hour and five minutes produced a mileage of 6.7 miles, a personal best and a milestone I was proud of.

Throughout the run though, I had my left sandal come loose and stay loose, creating a slipping and sliding of my skin against the thin leather soles slapping against concrete. At one point I felt wetness slide down my left foot and I prayed that I wasn’t bleeding and that it was just sweat resulting from the humid 90 degrees on this fine summer’s eve. I didn’t take time to re-tie my sandals, but checking for blood was a priority, and found nothing but clear wetness! Success! My feet were holding up quite well it seemed! I later found that this wetness came from a huge blister under the ball of my foot that popped halfway through my trek.

The end of the run showed I had 4 new pillows of fluid that had cropped up during my 6.7 miles and while my family encouraged me to baby them using moleskin, I of course ignored their advice and popped the largest I had, while I let the others incubate, eagerly awaiting their 48 hour transformation into calluses.

So when I say Blisters are Beautiful, it is because they are the precursor to calluses. They fascinate me: they represent the human body’s ability to re-grow flesh in 24 hours and make a shield of toughened keratin in 48. They are the body’s redoubled efforts to rectify the damage due to ignorance and folly, and to be more prepared for future excursions as wiser, more prepared feet.

I actually heard stories from a friend of mine who rows crew telling me of his colleagues trying to preserve their calluses by popping them and re-filling them with glue. Such lengths may not be necessary for recreational runners, but calluses certainly have their upsides when feet hit pavement and I for one welcome that meeting with my fortified feet.

Do you ever get blisters in your FiveFingers? Or in any other minimalist shoe? Blisters: love ‘em or hate ‘em? Put your thoughts in a comment below.