A few things about my feet

These are my newest running shoes - Brooks Ghost. My husband has been wearing them for a year or so (different pairs - not just one) and he absolutely loves them. It was time for me to get new running shoes, and I decided to give them a try. I am a neutral runner (as is Travis) and I was previously running in the Nike Pegasus, but I didn't want to get those again. I don't necessarily know if it was because of those shoes or not, but I have been having some foot problems with my right foot. It has been going numb around 4 miles or so (and longer runs.) It doesn't hurt that much, but just feels uncomfortable. I know that my shoes aren't too small, because I have room in the toe, and I normally have my feet sized once a year at a specialty running store. I haven't had very many running related injuries recently, so I thought maybe it would be good to change shoes.

I've been wearing the Brooks now for about 2 weeks or so, and I noticed the numbness was still happening. For me, it's normal to have a little numbness for a few runs while I'm breaking in new shoes, but by my third run, it's typically gone. I went for a six mile run earlier this week, and by mile 5, I had to physically take my right shoe off and walk for a minute to get feeling in it. This is NOT typical for me, so I decided to do a little research. The first thing I realized is that my shoes are probably tied to tight. However, I literally couldn't loosen them because the laces were really short! If I loosened them any more, I wouldn't have enough lace left to tie them! Luckily, I keep many of my older running shoes, and I was able to take my laces from an older Nike pair to put in them. Those laces actually haven't had much use, either, because when I got the Nike's, it was triathlon season, and I almost immediately put my triathlon laces in my shoes (so I wouldn't have to tie them.) Suprisingly, my Nike laces were about 6-8 inches longer! I don't know why Brooks would make their laces so short.

Older Nike shoes with shorter Brooks Laces

I decided to take my research further when I discovered that there are ways to lace your running shoes to address different foot issues - from everything to foot numbness to high arches to heal-rubbing issues. I actually can't believe I never looked into this before. I used a "straight-across" method that gives me more room in my mid-foot.

New Shoes - straight-across lacing method

I also added the "runner's loop" at the top, in order to keep my heal from slipping now that the laces are looser.

Runner's Loop to secure heal

Well, I was really excited to go for a run this morning and try them out! It's been raining for the last two days, so I haven't been really motivated to try them out until today. Travis wanted to take Avery to Little Gym today anyway, so I thought it would be the perfect morning to go for a nice long run.

Then this happened.

Wait, is that a giant bruise on my foot?? Yes, but not from running. About 10 minutes before I was ready to go, the doorbell rang, and I was still barefoot. When people come to our door, Ranger goes CRAZY!!! I was trying to get him out of the way and see who it was, when this lovely bruise happened. He was clawing at the door and my foot apparently was in his way. It may not look that bad, but it really hurt!! The Jehovah Witness at my door must have seen the tears in my eyes as I answered (or she was afraid of dogs) because she handed me a brochure and was walking/running back to her car as quickly as she could. She didn't even ask me if I believe in anything!

As I closed the door, my first thought was that my toe was broken, and I immediately iced it. The swelling went down and it started to feel somewhat better. I decided to attempt to run 3 miles in our neighborhood, and see how it felt. It hurt to put my shoe on, but I knew it wasn't broken. I was able to run 3 miles with just a little pain, but not bad. The good news is that I think my laces really helped! It was hard to tell, and I'll have to do a few more runs when my foot is better, but I think my feet will feel better.

After I showered, the bruising really came into view, and I'm hoping I didn't make it worse. I'm icing it and keeping it elevated the rest of the day - so wish me luck!