My Shoe Saga

My freshman year in college as mileage ramped up and running got serious for me, my relationship with blisters began. After the third race in a row that ended with a blood blister covering the entire arch of my foot I was fitted for shoes and discovered I had a narrow foot. Since then with appropriate fitting shoes and lotioning my feet consistently I have avoided blisters for the most part. Outside of mistakes where I decided to try out a different kind of shoe which resulted in the loss of a toenail due to a too narrow toe box and bruising on the inside of my calf due to too wide of a sole, I have been able to avoid shoe related issues. I have worn the same pair of tried and true shoes for the past 12 years. They have seen me through four years of college cross country, 60-80 mile weeks, 3 marathons, countless half marathons, running through 2 pregnancies, and the list goes on. I love these shoes. They have been tried and true for me and each model is just as good as the last.

Running a marathon in my Asics.

After running a half marathon at 32 weeks pregnant with Carter.

Finishing a 5k at 24 weeks pregnant with Elise.

With my love for these shoes, they are the last thing I would think might be the culprit when an issue arises. Back in October when I ran the Prairie Fire Half Marathon, you may remember me mentioning a blister that formed about halfway through the race which caused a great deal of pain not just where it was, but also in my ankle from my body compensating for the pain. That blister became a recurring problem, popping up after multiple races and then eventually occurring after each race. Carter would point out my "ouchie" and checked on it frequently. It turned into a callous which would blister underneath. Each time it was a blood blister and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to drain with the callous on top of it.

A picture my mom took after the Prairie Fire race. I hadn't looked at this until just now. It got progressively worse as time went on. Now I look at this blister and think it's so small, haha!

Rule of thumb with running shoes is to replace them every 6 months or around 500 miles. I tend to get shin splints when my shoes are ready to be replaced. Typically I just ride my shoes out until I start getting shin splints in an effort to save money. This time around that never happened. I was approaching an entire year in this pair of shoes and had logged over 800 miles in them. I knew I was long overdue for a new pair but also hated to spend the money. At the Run Tulsa Pink 5k there was a group of physical therapists there to discuss injuries. Before the race Ty decided to talk to them about elbow pain he had been having and was diagnosed with tennis elbow. He was given information on exercises to do as well as referred to one of their clinics for physical therapy. During the race I felt the blister popping up within the first half of the race and had to focus on landing correctly on my foot so as not to cause ankle pain. After the race when Ty went over to get a card from the physical therapy table, I thought, what the heck I'll ask about my recurring blister. The physical therapist took a look, examined my feet, and suggested I needed a wider toe box on my shoes. I was shocked. It hadn't occurred to me that these shoes I had run in for 12 years and had been magical for me could be causing the problem.

My Asics pictured in a college team picture. I'm second from the left.

College cross country team. I'm all the way to the left in the back row.

After 6 months of dealing with this blister and pain during every race I was so done. The very next day mom came over to watch the kids during naptime so I could go to a local running store and get fitted for new shoes. I even had a gift card from winning the Race Into the New Year 5k that I could use. When it comes to gift cards I tend to hoard them until I need something rather than go buy myself a treat and that really paid off for me! The shoe expert I met with was awesome! I wore my running shoes in and he looked down and immediately noticed my feet were spilling out of the toe box, as he described it. I told him my issues and shared that I have 2 kids and have run through both pregnancies. I've always heard a myth that your feet get bigger during pregnancy and don't go back to their normal size. I kind of assumed it was a myth, but totally not the case. It turns out I have not only gone from a narrow foot to regular width, but I have gone up half a shoe size! So thanks to Carter and Elise I can now buy my running shoes in store rather than ordering them online. I can also get the pretty models as oftentimes I could only find narrows in the not as cute colors! The shoe expert was also kind enough to comment on the complete wear down of my shoes and said I had obviously needed new shoes for a seriously long time as there was not much left. I didn't realize how true it was until he brought a pair of shoes out for me to try on and it felt like I was walking on clouds. As I slipped the shoes on I noticed how good they felt and realized I was used to my pinky toe feeling squished. How I didn't realize the issue on my own is beyond me. I kept thinking the issue was that my shoes were old and had become loose which caused my narrow feet to slide around. That is hilarious to me now that I know what the real issue was! I left the store giddy with excitement that we had found a solution to my problem and that I got to stick with my tried and true shoes, just wider and longer! Now that I've run in them for about a week, I am thrilled that my blister has not resurfaced and my callous is looking better. Thank goodness for Ty talking to the physical therapists at the race! I never would have thought to do it on my own and I never would have thought the issue stemmed from my shoes, oddly enough, since all my other issues have been related to ill fitting shoes. You live and you learn and hopefully I won't make the same mistake again!

Thanks to my little cuties I won't have to order narrow shoes anymore!

 

Nursing Elise after finishing a half marathon.