get my feet back on the ground
xuth and I went hiking in Laurel Hill State Park last weekend and it was fun. Cold, but fun.
Before the trip, I looked into possible things I could do to make my feet less sore when I hike, since basically the bottoms of my feet seem like they are always the limiting factor on how far I want to walk, even when I'm wearing supposedly decent shoes. They usually start getting sore within a few miles, although I can ignore it and go much further when I want to. Teh googles suggested different insoles for my shoes. Having never (ok maybe once) bought separate insoles, I decided I wanted advice, so I took advantage of a friend's trip to REI to visit the footware dept and see what they suggested.
The first associate put me in some high arch (green) Superfeet and had me walk around for a bit. I came back to report that it felt fine, but not a lot of difference, and being a newb, I wasn't really sure what I should be looking for. Another associate had me stand up just on an insole and reported "Well that's why you can't feel much. The arch of the insole isn't even close to touching the arch of your foot." Oh. Huh. So then he had me try the high arch Sof Sole and OH HEY there was something actually touching my entire foot. Weird. I walked around in some borrowed Keen hiking shoes for a bit and nothing felt uncomfortable, so decided to give them a shot.
I've figured for a while that I have a slightly-higher-than-average foot arch, although mostly just from looking at my footprints. But I've never noticed any negative side effects that come with that. I mean, sure I get sore from standing for like 20 minutes, but doesn't everybody? Slowly walking around museums is torturous, but that's probably just because I have no art appreciation ability. I always wear my sandals on the loosest setting, but I don't recall any not fitting. My multiple metatarsal stress fractures are probably just because I trained poorly. And my knee problems and lower back pain were already determined to be more likely related to my hip flexors. So, um, no, no issues at all. Hrm.
OK fine, I'll try out this ridiculously high arched insole. The first day I wore it to go walk around for a few miles running errands with some new (Keen) hiking shoes. I ended up with very mild strain on the outside of my ankles, which google said was normal. I rested a day, then took two days to wear them in my casual shoes (also Keens) around work and school, with no discomfort. Finally we went on our trip. The first day was expected to be wet and muddy so I put them in my mud/camping boots (still Keen; there's a trend here) and instantly the boots felt like they were hugging my feet affectionately, moreso than ever before. Hiking was good. By the homestretch my feet were still pretty sore, which was a little disappointing, until I got back and did measurements and realized we'd gone 8+ miles, which I'm pretty sure is an improvement. And the soreness went away immediately upon stopping, and my knees were mostly fine, despite a fair amount of downhill, and the next day everything felt fine. The next day we went another 4ish miles, this time in my hiking shoes, and I had no soreness at all.
Well that's pretty cool. Of course, now I'm wondering how much of the annoying pain in the rest of my life could have been fixed with something small like this. How many pairs of awesome boots did I give away because they weren't comfortable (I figured they just weren't broken in properly)? How many day outings did I not enjoy because I was just thinking about where I could sit down next? If this is really an answer, I want to keep it. I went ahead and ordered a different pair to try out and compare, and I'm thinking I will probably also see about putting something in my running shoes.
Oh, and here's a picture of the Jones Mill Run Dam.
Before the trip, I looked into possible things I could do to make my feet less sore when I hike, since basically the bottoms of my feet seem like they are always the limiting factor on how far I want to walk, even when I'm wearing supposedly decent shoes. They usually start getting sore within a few miles, although I can ignore it and go much further when I want to. Teh googles suggested different insoles for my shoes. Having never (ok maybe once) bought separate insoles, I decided I wanted advice, so I took advantage of a friend's trip to REI to visit the footware dept and see what they suggested.
The first associate put me in some high arch (green) Superfeet and had me walk around for a bit. I came back to report that it felt fine, but not a lot of difference, and being a newb, I wasn't really sure what I should be looking for. Another associate had me stand up just on an insole and reported "Well that's why you can't feel much. The arch of the insole isn't even close to touching the arch of your foot." Oh. Huh. So then he had me try the high arch Sof Sole and OH HEY there was something actually touching my entire foot. Weird. I walked around in some borrowed Keen hiking shoes for a bit and nothing felt uncomfortable, so decided to give them a shot.
I've figured for a while that I have a slightly-higher-than-average foot arch, although mostly just from looking at my footprints. But I've never noticed any negative side effects that come with that. I mean, sure I get sore from standing for like 20 minutes, but doesn't everybody? Slowly walking around museums is torturous, but that's probably just because I have no art appreciation ability. I always wear my sandals on the loosest setting, but I don't recall any not fitting. My multiple metatarsal stress fractures are probably just because I trained poorly. And my knee problems and lower back pain were already determined to be more likely related to my hip flexors. So, um, no, no issues at all. Hrm.
OK fine, I'll try out this ridiculously high arched insole. The first day I wore it to go walk around for a few miles running errands with some new (Keen) hiking shoes. I ended up with very mild strain on the outside of my ankles, which google said was normal. I rested a day, then took two days to wear them in my casual shoes (also Keens) around work and school, with no discomfort. Finally we went on our trip. The first day was expected to be wet and muddy so I put them in my mud/camping boots (still Keen; there's a trend here) and instantly the boots felt like they were hugging my feet affectionately, moreso than ever before. Hiking was good. By the homestretch my feet were still pretty sore, which was a little disappointing, until I got back and did measurements and realized we'd gone 8+ miles, which I'm pretty sure is an improvement. And the soreness went away immediately upon stopping, and my knees were mostly fine, despite a fair amount of downhill, and the next day everything felt fine. The next day we went another 4ish miles, this time in my hiking shoes, and I had no soreness at all.
Well that's pretty cool. Of course, now I'm wondering how much of the annoying pain in the rest of my life could have been fixed with something small like this. How many pairs of awesome boots did I give away because they weren't comfortable (I figured they just weren't broken in properly)? How many day outings did I not enjoy because I was just thinking about where I could sit down next? If this is really an answer, I want to keep it. I went ahead and ordered a different pair to try out and compare, and I'm thinking I will probably also see about putting something in my running shoes.
Oh, and here's a picture of the Jones Mill Run Dam.