New shoes
Didn’t run today at all. Instead, I made a trip across town to On The Run, a shoe store that specializes in runners footwear. The store came recommended by friends who run and I had decided it was time to at least attempt to take better care of my feet.
Well, the salesguy took good care of me. He actually had real empirically-testable-and-answerable questions for me about the fit. Usually the process of trying on shoes is just “how does that feel?” He also seemed to actually know a lot about what he was selling. A great retail experience, in my opinion, which is something that gets harder and harder to find as capitalism drives our society ever onward toward mediocrity.
I must have tried on nine pairs of shoes, and each time the salesguy explained what was different and why, he’d selected this brand or that model. Apparently I have very womanly feet, with a narrower heel in relation to my toesection. Huh. So almost all of the shoes I tried gave some slip in the heel.
The only shoe we tried that was comfortable without my heels slipping up off the sole were the ones I came home with: Saucony Grid Omni 3 CRM Ultimates. There was one problem with them: the toebox is roomy enough that the material folds over on one spot and the reflector kind of pokes at the spot on the inside right behind my big toe. He fixed this by putting pads on the insides of the shoes, which made a big difference. It eliminated the problem entirely on the right side, but oddly enough, it still rubbed just a little on my left foot. It was minor enough that I bought the shoes confident that I could adjust the pads further to eliminate the problem.
I got home tonight, took my shoes and socks off and discovered why I couldn’t fix the problem on the left. I’d forgotten that Friday morning Ozzy got a little too rambunctious playing with my foot and left me with a two-inch gash that will likely leave a scar visible for years to come. Right on the spot where I was feeling the shoe rub. Which explains a lot. The right foot was fixed with the pad, but that very spot on my left foot has a wound that stings when pressure is applied to it. Duuuuuhhhhh!!!!
Now I feel guilty for making that guy spend so much time readjusting the pads and the tightness of the laces and walking around, and a little stupid for forgetting that that spot was going to be sensitive before heading to the shoe store.
Tomorrow I’d like to try running on them. Yay!