The good news is, most of the blisters you get with shoes will not happen when you are barefoot running. The reason for this is, most shoe-running blisters occur where the shoe is rubbing on your foot, and that simply can't happen with barefoot running!

The bad news is, you will still get blisters when barefoot running, but only on the bottoms of your feet.

The kinds of blisters you can get on the soles of your feet when barefoot running vary from small, white blisters, to big, red blood blisters; to the ugliest blister of all: big blood blisters that are actually underneath the thick pads or calluses on your feet.

The most important thing to remember is you want to minimize the number of blisters you get barefoot running in the first place.

Here are some ways to minimize the blisters that you get from barefoot running:

1. Lift your feet cleanly up and down.

Blisters are a result of friction, so as you are barefoot running you want to place your foot so as not to create friction. You need to concentrate on lifting your foot (from the knee, not by pushing off) cleanly up and and down. Don't let your foot drag along the pavement when it lands, and don't let it push off from the ground while barefoot running either.

2. Keep the pressure off your toes.

Some people have a tendency to put too much weight on their toes and the inside of their foot when barefoot running, and this can create big blisters especially on the big toes. The correction for this is again, not to let your big toes push off at all, and also to shift your weight off the insides of your feet, and keep it more to the outer sides of your feet. Keeping your toes lightly on the road, and this should help the number of toe-blisters you can get barefoot running.

3. Don't do barefoot running in the rain or when it's wet.

Trying to go out and do barefoot running while it is raining or still wet on the roads can give you what I call "dishpan feet" - the bottoms of your feet get waterlogged and the skin can not only blister put start to peel off very easily. Avoid (or at least limit your time) barefoot running in the rain.

Here's how to deal with blisters you get barefoot running despite all your precautions:

1. Take some time off.

If you really love barefoot running, you will take a day (or maybe 3 or 4) to let the blister on your foot go down and heal. I find that once the blister is totally flat and hard I can go out again, if I don't overdo it immediately.

2. Use Moleskin to pad around the blister.

You can get Moleskin at most pharmacies and running stores. You want to be careful how you put it on though. What you want to do is get or cut a piece that is in a round or oval shape, larger than the blister, and be sure to cut out any of the inside that would touch the blister. That way, when you put the Moleskin on, it should not be touching the blister at all, but should be acting as a kind of lift or pad around it, keeping it off the ground pressure while you are out barefoot running. Note: If the Moleskin will not stay on, you can use duct tape to hold it on better.

3. Use Benzoin, rubbing alcohol or iodine to disinfect the blister area.

Benzoin has the nice property of also making the area of your foot "stickier" in a way that will help to hold on any Moleskin or tape you use on it so you can keep barefoot running afterwards. Rubbing alcohol or iodine should be used every night to disinfect the blister area.

And that's it - the 3 best ways to avoid getting blisters while barefoot running - but if you do, then there's 3 more ways to deal with them so you can keep on barefoot running.

And that's the whole point, right?