The Emperor's New Shoes - Remix

Author’s note: if any of you read my post the other day regarding my new shoes, here is the update. If you didn’t, just scroll down two posts and read that one before this one as I am not going to rewrite elements of that post just to bring you up to speed. I mean, come on, I only write 1-4 posts a month, if you can’t keep up with that, you need help…

This last weekend I went out for my 12 mile "long" run for the week. I had run in my new shoes several times on my treadmill at home but this was the first time I had a chance to get out on a harder surface. My shoes felt great on the treadmill for the previous two weeks but for you non-runners who venture past here let me tell you, the surface matters. About 2-3 miles into my run both of my heels started aching quite significantly. By the end of my run they were screaming and I spent the next three days tiptoeing around the house.

Now, I’m not saying it was completely the shoes, but the largest change for this run was my new shoes. Considering my old Nike’s probably had a couple thousand miles on them (at significantly higher weights) I am hesitant to think these new shoes didn’t have enough cushioning. Possibly the change of shoe and hence the foot carry, pronation control, cushioning technology, etc, caused my foot to strike just differently enough to cause problems.

The other factor I will not rule out and potentially could actually be more significant is my increased training over the last few months. Not only have I been more consistent (aka "frequent") with my running schedule, but I have also upped the tempo and increased my long run distances from 5-6 miles up to 10-12. Perhaps the wear and tear of training or the rapid increase in distance/week caught up to me. The fact that this hit me so suddenly 2-3 miles into my first run in my new shoes could have been an unfortunate coincidence. The symptoms and causes are consistent, for the most part, with plantar fasciitis but not 100%.

I felt that, based on what I paid for the shoes, I couldn’t hang my hat on the coincidence theory. My wife would have never let me live that down… "Just look at those $100 shoes gathering dust because you were too embarrassed to take them back…" Okay, so she would never say something like that but it provided the motivation I needed to get the courage to go in. Do any of you use your spouse’s voice as your internal voice of reason like I do?

Fleet Feet, see first post, has a 30-day return policy. My first experience, that return policy, and their attitude when I went back in to talk to them about my experience will translate into my loyalty to them for years to come. I have to admit that I was hesitant to take my shoes back in, in fear of a "battle" convincing them that the shoe didn’t work for me, but with the reassurance of the person that referred me to the store I went back. They couldn’t have been nicer. They apologized about the problems I was having and set out to see if they could rectify the situation. They talked to me for about 10 minutes asking me about my training program, what shoes I was switching from, injury history, then they rechecked the shoes I had purchased for fit, remeasured my foot, and tried a custom insert. When nothing else felt right, he went back and got 4 more pairs of shoes and started the whole selection process over again. No hesitation was at all apparent in his voice in taking back the shoes.

So, take two, here are my new new shoes. They are Saucony brand Pro-Grid Omni 6’s. The uppers don’t quite feel as natural as the Brooks (the main reason I selected the Brooks the first time) but the cushioning has a much more pillowy (is that a word?) feel, both in the heel and in the pushoff. I will let you know how they work out in a couple weeks. They felt good on the treadmill last night, but as I pointed out at the start of this post, that may not be such a good indicator. I may have to stave off judgement for my next long run.