Bad Shoes

I have passed along most of the free pairs of running shoes I accumulated, from sponsored training sessions, to others whose feet are a better fit for them. One pair remained though (not New Balance) and I made sure they were designated gym shoes and would never see the light of day as running shoes. Until yesterday. I got to the trail and found I had left my numero uno pair of New Balance on the deck drying. Ugh! I felt a slight rubbing on the right side of the right foot but disregarded it inconsequential as I wasn't over five miles for the evening. I gasped when I saw my little toe while getting dressed for a gym workout today at noon. A reddish bloody blister.

The numero dos pair of New Balance will find themselves in the trunk of the car tonight and that's where they'll stay, except for when they're on my feet while on the trail. Other than the wrong shoes, the runs on the trail in the heat have been ok. I'm already getting acclimated and the Barton Springs cool-downs at sundown are wonderful.

Wednesday nights I get the added benefit of listening to Blues on the Green, a weekly concert in the park. Traffic is a little hairy and I end up parking down the road which adds another mile to the run but it's not a problem.

UPDATE - Learning More About Feet

Well the Dr. Scholl's advice was thrown out the window. Not entirely, but the part that stated my feet were identical was false. The arches are definitely different. They looked the same on the scanner but when I looked at them side-by-side, they are different height-wise.

Last night I sat in front of the TV watching Monday Night Football with a box full of various orthotic products, a pair of scissors and a roll of green duct tape. I vowed not to get up, except for running out the door to try the latest orthotic experiment, until I had found the perfect combination of orthotic footsy mix-mash that left my dogs feeling like they were resting in pillows.

I used this same thought as I shopped for a new pair of running shoes the other night. I said I was not leaving the store until I found the pair of shoes that made my feet feel like they were resting in pillows. It took an hour and a half and I'm sure the shoe clerks were really ticked with me stacking pair after pair next to the try-on-chair but hey, it's my money and it's my feet. I tried $39.00 shoes and $139 shoes. I tried Asics, Nike and New Balance. I tried trail, rode and trainers. I tried full running and minimalist running. I ended up with a pair of New Balance 431 ($39.00), which is similar to the pair of 413 I bought nine months ago.

I'll save you a step-by-step details of my trial and error and summarize. The left foot needed a gel arch support and extra heel padding. The right foot didn't need anything except for the gel insole. On the left foot I ended up taping the arch support in place as it has a tendency to move. I then cut the left gel insole so I wouldn't double layer, tucked it inside and then placed the heel support orthotic and took them for a spin.

Felt. Like. Running. On. Pillows.

My feet look ok but they are definitely different. But hey, I'm gellin!