On Saturday I thought a lot about my latest shoe issues: It seems that the size of running shoes, which I have been wearing for the past few years are now… well…short. I don’t know what is happening exactly. It seems like my foot is flattening out without my old insoles and subsequently taking up more space in my shoe. I see the podiatrist again on February 1st, but in the meantime, my feet just aren’t happy. I feel pressure on my bones bilaterally; my feet want cushion. The heels of my feet feel like I need to dig a divot in the current insoles. The fact is that I really miss my old insoles.
I paid a visit to my local running store. Tim agreed that my toe was a little close to the end of my shoe. He pulled some size 9 1/2 shoes off the shelf and I slipped them on. The felt okay, but a little loose in the toe box. Rather than running on the store treadmill, he had me run in front of the store. I heard the shoes slapping the sidewalk. When I turned to run back, Tim had a funny look on his face.
He hooked his video recorder up to the TV to show me what he had seen. In the video, my feet were landing in turnout fashion. I suppose this would be great if I was doing ballet, but not running. Tim said that no matter what shoes he put me in, that he could not fix the cause of my feet landing this way. “It’s not your feet,” he indicated (not his exact words), “it’s up higher like your hips or core.”
This was not what I wanted to hear (or see). I realize that it is just one video of one short little trip down the sidewalk. It is in no way confirmation of a “problem.” *sigh* But, I thought, it could be. I need more video of me running. I need to be running my regular pace, and in running clothes rather than with my jeans rolled up. Then maybe, I could determine if it was just me trying to accommodate the bunched up pants between my knees or a problem that needs looking into.
Either way, I find it puzzling. I was doing fine before. So, I had a little over-use issue. It seems that the taking out of the insoles that I loved created a serious of unhappiness in my feet. I was tempted to give them another try, and that is just what I did today.