Sunday, October 10, 2010

Battle of the Shoes

I have had many posts on shoes. It is hard for me to find a pair of shoes that don't give my feet problems. Years ago I had a pair of Nike Yankee running shoes. They fit my feet the best. I put several hundred miles on those shoes before I had to replace them. That was back in high school when I was on the cross country team for Soul American High School. When I returned to the states half way through my senior year I did not continue with the cross country team at Copperus Cove.

Lets review. I was wearing a pair of Nike shoes but had worn out the heal on the inside of the shoe. They were a good shoe but I never did any real distance walking with them. I got another walking shoe from Rebock. I then started doing distance walking. My feet always hurt. Time for a new pair. I saved up my pennies and a half off sale due to store closing got me a pair of New Balance 1200 series. Almost a hundred dollars at half price. These were no better than my other shoes,in fact they were worse. I started to get blisters the size of Texas on the inside of my heel and the back of the heel as well. From there I went with Sketcher. They felt fine at first but then the blisters on the inside of the heel started after a few miles. It got to the point that I did not want to go walking. That is when I got the Vibram Five Finger KSO shoes. Finally no more blisters. I actually enjoyed walking again. My feet felt fine, until I started distance walking. After 5 miles my feet were numb and tingling. If I stay on the trail over dirt and grass I do great but all paved walk was not good on my feet. I was back to square one. This weekend I bought a pair of Asics shoes. I tried on at least 10 different shoes at the store. I would put on both shoes and walk around the store. It came down to three shoes and all were Asics brand. The ones I bought have a gel sole and really cup the heel. I went out this morning for a walk. I was only going to do 5 or 6 miles but my feet felt so good I ended up doing 13 miles. When I got home and pulled off the shoes, no blisters. I think I found a shoe that fits my foot.

I still have foot pain when I walk distance. I can deal with that as long as there are no blisters. My next step is to see if I can get inserts to take the pain away. Stay tuned.