Slipping and sliding, and bare-feet

I had to get out early this morning and stay close to home due to a prior commitment. Helping my niece load a U-Haul for her move to Dallas today.
Out the door at 6 AM headed to the familiar trails of Leon creek. my neighbor shouts out from his porch "you're gonna get wet!"
It rained last night and was drizzling very lightly, but this would end 10 minutes into my hour run.
Getting to the creek I thought twice about getting off the pavement and onto the natural trails. My feet were already wet and the trails would be muddy! Oh, well. I kept thinking about how Chris is always bringing up "The Mud Year" at Bandera. And if we get another "Mud Year" at this years 100K race I have to be ready. I jumped on the natural trails and quickly began slipping and sliding on the very moist caliche. It rained quite a bit but not enough to make really soft mud. Caliche is a bit more dense than black dirt so it takes a good downpour to really soften it up. The boot camp squats and lunges came in handy as I straddled and jumped over and sideways around puddles. Then there was the one very large, very long, ankle deep puddle I could not jump or straddle.. Oh well, at this point I was wet and muddy so in I went. as I came out the other end I felt something slapping my left ankle! without looking at what it was I shook my foot in an attempt to get it off. what was it? A weed? A snake!? No, it was my shoelace that came untied.
The trail then came to a low point crossing the creek where clear cool water was rushing by making a pretty sound. Like a babbling brook. It's been too long since we've seen or heard this around here. We've been in such a very long drought. Crossing the creek helped clean my shoes a bit.
I jumped off the trail to head back home running the pavement to try and get some mud off my shoes. Enough mud training for now. At this point I saw the only other person out this morning. I said Hi and noticed he was barefoot. I've seen a few runners going barefoot lately. Saw one at the Rock and Roll Marathon a couple of weeks ago. I'm all for going minimalist. I think it is beneficial. But we need some type of protection on our feet. I was running in the New Balance 101's today. That's about as minimalist as you can go besides the vibram five fingers. By the way, I was impressed by my friend John Kuss who ran the Cactus Rose 50 at Bandera last month wearing the 101's. those rocks at Bandera show no mercy!
Walking barefoot in the house is good. But come on, ever since man learned to walk upright he realized we need some protection for our feet. Check out these early shoes!