u/Crazy-Tangerine400

I’ve been to a few community pools (public pools) in Santa Rosa and Sebastopol and am disappointed by their environments. The set up is very sparse, like a few chairs here and there, but no lounge chairs to actually hang out on while enjoying a few hours at the pool or many tables to sit and enjoy lunch or snacks while having a swim day. Is this common here? I also find the free swim hours to be strange and solely in the afternoon for like 2-3 hours max (often during younger kids’ nap times). Where I grew up, I would spend my summer days at the pool for hours with friends and siblings. They were well equipped with chairs, clean facilities inside and out, and overall comfortable. The pools here are just… lacking aesthetically and generally in my opinion. There aren’t many of them and then they are PACKED on a hot summer afternoon during the few hours they are open for free swim. It’s like they are purposely made to be not conducive for people to hang out aside from being in the water.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

I found barefoot shoes after rupturing a plantar plate in my foot while running a few years. I would like to go back to running (okay, really jogging) because it is great stress reducer for me in addition to it being an effective and efficient form of exercise.

My questions are:
- What shoe options are there? Altras have the wide toe box and some padding, that feels like a good call? Any pros / cons when switching between barefoot shoes (Whitin / EarthRunners) and Altras?

- Are there any running programs people recommend? The only one I am familiar with is Couch to 5K

Thanks for the insights 💜

I'm so excited. I've been wearing WHITIN shoes for a while, but I really wanted to get some shoes for the summer. I have had foot issues for so long and going barefoot has been a game changer. I'm excited to see the changes the EarthRunners will bring!