Notes
Got in a 4.5 miler w/Erin at Twin Brooks. I need new batteries for my headlamp but we replaced Erin's (and by Erin's I mean my headlamp since she's been running more than me so we've swapped.) My groin felt okay for the most part, I did take one good digger when I tripped on a root but no problems from existing injuries and the fall didn't make anything worse (or hurt anything) which is good.
I went barefoot with the Merrill's on the trails and they seemed to work out fine there. No rubbing, despite getting my feet wet quite a bit. One nice thing about being barefoot was that the water that got in the shoes warmed up quickly. Not sure how well the shoes drained, since I kept running through puddles and they never had a chance to dry.
I did notice that it's easy to get pebbles in the shoes when I'm not wearing socks. There's a good gap to the side; I got the pebble out by widening it and then stretching my foot up so the pebble could roll out. If I ran anything technical w/o socks I'd probably want gaiters.