MFH (My Favorite Husband) came to the conclusion that my running shoes were too small. \u00a0This would explain the loss of toenails and the huge blister at the Chicago Marathon last Sunday.<\/p>\n
I was puzzled about this seeing as I had been fitted for these shoes just a year ago. \u00a0Then again, my running has changed dramatically in the past year, too.<\/p>\n
A year ago, MFH and I made the drive to Tupelo, Mississippi, to the Trails and Treads store. \u00a0Tupelo is an hour north of us and the closest place where a person can get gait analysis done and fitted. \u00a0At that time, they put me in Hoka Stinson Tarmac (at that time I was training on the road).<\/p>\n
Those shoes loved my feet! \u00a0I loved those shoes, too! \u00a0My feet were so happy. \u00a0I had been wearing Brooks Adrenaline for a very long time. \u00a0Every time I put on those Brooks, my feet cringed. \u00a0They were so unhappy. \u00a0Poor feet. \u00a0I didn’t know any better, so I stuffed my feet into those shoes and ran.<\/p>\n
The Hoka’s were a breath of fresh air. \u00a0I felt as light as a feather. \u00a0Cushy. \u00a0I didn’t feet the road. \u00a0My feet weren’t crying before I left the house. \u00a0Life was good.<\/p>\n
About the time of my Ultra in July, my shoes were getting snug. \u00a0I didn’t think anything of it because I had made the change to Hoka Stinson Trail. \u00a0My Ultra was a Trail Run and I needed the different shoe. \u00a0I was having quite a bit of trouble with hot spots by now. \u00a0I tried every trick I knew to deal with the hot spots and resulting blisters. \u00a0My toenails were suffering, too.<\/p>\n
After the Ultra, it was back to Hoka Stinson Lite. \u00a0Hoka had changed the Tarmac and now called it Lite. \u00a0Not a good change.<\/p>\n
It seemed to be more narrow. \u00a0I really had to work to get that shoe on! \u00a0Strange. \u00a0I hadn’t had that problem previously. \u00a0Hoka had also added something that I will call a seam. \u00a0It isn’t any stitching or anything, it’s just something there for support and where it was placed made my foot unhappy.<\/p>\n
I am a slow learner, though and wore them anyway. \u00a0I continued my running and training for Chicago. \u00a0My feet were…surviving. \u00a0I was still fighting those hot spots. \u00a0Man, those things are awful! \u00a0When you are running 26.2 miles and you have a hot spot by mile 3, that makes for a very long and very uncomfortable run.<\/p>\n
Well, you already know what happened to my feet at Chicago.<\/p>\n
So, two days ago, an opportunity to run Ragnar this week fell in my lap. \u00a0Who can pass up a free race, right!?! \u00a0The only problem was my feet.<\/p>\n
I had managed 10.50 miles in the week since Chicago. \u00a0I just could NOT stand those shoes on my feet! \u00a0It just hurt too bad.<\/p>\n
MFH looked at my feet and determined that we needed to drive to Tupelo again and get re-fitted.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, I checked the website for that store to see what their store hours were. \u00a0They were open until 5:00 PM. \u00a0Yesterday was sidewalk sale day AND Hoka’s were 30% off. \u00a0SCORE!<\/p>\n
Off we went.<\/p>\n
I had been wearing a 6.5. \u00a0The lady had me try a 7. \u00a0That seam still bugged my foot! \u00a07.5, same thing. \u00a0Nope. \u00a0This was not going to work.<\/p>\n
This was when she asked if I had tried Altra’s.<\/p>\n
I was familiar with this shoe but had never tried them. \u00a0The zero drop kinda scared me a bit. \u00a0Call me a chicken. \u00a0She asked me to try on a pair. \u00a0Never hurts to try, right?<\/p>\n
She brought out a 7.5. \u00a0She said they ran small. \u00a0They do. \u00a0Boy, did those feel great! \u00a0Talk about a big toe box. \u00a0AND no seam! \u00a0Woo-Hoo! \u00a0 My toe was still hitting the end of the shoe with the 7.5 though, so she brought out an 8. \u00a0Perfect!<\/p>\n
I left the store with (just one for the moment) pair of Altra’s. \u00a0The Olympus.<\/p>\n
I took them on an 8 miler this morning before church.<\/p>\n
They are not as cushy as my Hoka’s. \u00a0The Hoka’s you don’t feel the road. \u00a0At all. \u00a0I have been spoiled in that. \u00a0HOWEVER, my toes did not hit the top or the end of my shoe. \u00a0My feet were not pinched. \u00a0I didn’t feel like I had to peel my shoes off immediately as soon as I got to the house because my feet were still happy! \u00a0Amazing!!!<\/p>\n
As far as the zero drop? \u00a0Not one single problem. \u00a0Whew!<\/p>\n
#SOLD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MFH (My Favorite Husband) came to the conclusion that my running shoes were too small. \u00a0This would explain the loss of toenails and the huge blister at the Chicago Marathon last Sunday. I was puzzled about this seeing as I had been fitted for these shoes just a year ago. \u00a0Then again, my running has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,8,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2687,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions\/2687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}