Sole survivor
Barefoot exploit covers 100 marathons
Anna McNuff is running 2620 miles barefoot across Britain for charity and has been taking in the sights of West Lothian on her epic journey.
in good condition. Now I just have some skin which is a little bit thicker on the soles of my feet but they’re still really soft and supple.
“People do a double take when they see me in my bare feet. They look at the other runners who are around me and then just say ‘what on Earth?’ or might even shout something like ‘ you’ve lost your shoes’, which I’ve had a few times.
“They’ll stop to see what I’m doing and can’t believe it but people think it’s brilliant and are very encouraging and wish me well.”
Barefoot Britain is the latest in the author’s long line of epic challenges.
Her previous projects have included cycling both the Andes and America’s 50 states, running the length of New Zealand and swimming both the Dalmatian coastline in Croatia and around the British Virgin Islands.
She prepared for her current outing by running barefoot in this year’s London marathon, finishing in three hours and 44 minutes.
Now, nearly two months into her 100-marathon project, her bare feet are still happily carrying her along on each very different mile of varying surfaces.
She said: “I had the idea of running barefoot come into my head and then kept thinking about it.
“The idea had got into my mind and I wanted to try it and see what was possible.
“Every day is different and some things about doing a challenge like this will be uncontrollable so I just have to take one day at a time, see what happens and keep moving forward.”
She added: “I’m doing this purely for the challenge.
“I’m talking to Girlguiding units about adventure, confidence, growing and surprising yourself and I felt that if I’m talking to girls about that I have to be on a journey myself.
“I’m talking to them about going out there, having adventures and doing things that scare them and I want to encourage these girls and young women to do that and to be themselves.”
She added: “The variety of scenery across Scotland is brilliant and has been one of the best things about the runs I’ve done so far.
“The coastline in Aberdeenshire is beautiful, I’d never seen the Cairngorms before and then I came into Glasgow and started seeing motorways, which was a bit of an adjustment having started out in Shetland last month.
“It’s really hard and there’s a long way to go yet before I’m due to finish in London in November but it’s definitely the right level of challenge for me. It pushes me right to the limit.”