I decided to barefoot it today and did a half hour around the neighborhood and the park on the corner. It was a pretty good run although I found myself pushing off a little too hard on the rough pavement and getting a bit of the "hot foot" feeling. The VFFs are great but they do block out a certain amount of the feedback you get from completely bare feet. I also tripped at one point in the park due to catching my toe in my opposite pant leg--I made the mistake of wearing some flared pants to run in. Bad idea. Hopefully nobody saw that...