Becky

New Running Sneakers

If you’ve been following any of my running posts recently, you’ll probably know that I’ve been having blister issues and complaining about them a lot. I figured the culprit was my sneakers, so I finally decided to get new ones.

I got new sneakers earlier this year in March and assumed they would solve all of my problems. They did, for a little while. I’ve been battling blisters on the inside of both feet for a few months now, and I was getting tired of getting them and then not being able to run.

On Sunday, I went to a real running store and dragged my dad along with me. I figured I needed a running professional to help me and get me into a good pair of sneakers. The girl who waited on me was awesome and super helpful.

She asked me what brought me to the store and what I was looking for. After I told her about the blisters, she took a scan of my feet and it showed a 3D diagram of my feet, which was pretty cool. It gave additional information, like my exact foot size (my left is a 6.8 and my right is a 6.6), heel to toe length, arch height, instep height, heel width, and a few others stats. She asked what size shoe I was running in, and I said a seven because that’s my regular shoe size. She then told me, what was complete news to me, that I should be running in at least a shoe size larger. So I should be running in an eight.

Running in the wrong shoe size definitely could have been causing the blisters because when you run, your feet swell and need room to expand. My feet didn’t have room to expand, so they were just rubbing against my sneaker.

She had me try on 7.5s in three different brands, and I liked two of them: Karhu and Brooks. Both of them felt good, and she wanted to have me try on an eight but they didn’t have any eights in the Brooks sneaker, so I tried the Karhu in an eight. They didn’t feel too big but felt a lot better than my current sneakers. Since Karhus run a half size smaller, I also tried on an 8.5 but that felt a little too big.

In the end, I got a pair of Karhu Ikoni Ortixs in black and white. The sneakers are from Finland—”Karhu” is actually Finnish for “bear”—and feature a fulcrum that provides cushion on impact and directs all you forward. (In the picture, it’s the black section in the middle with the white spots.)

I also got four pairs of Balega socks because I figured it couldn’t hurt to have actual running socks, too. They were buy three, get one free anyway.

I went for a run yesterday after work, and the sneakers were great! My asthma, not so much, but I ran four miles even though I had to stop three times to catch my breath and walk once.

I felt a little more “springy” and there was no rubbing. (Although the blisters from last time didn’t completely heal yet so they popped up a little bit but there were no new ones.

So yay for actual sneakers! I’m happy with my purchase and hopefully can get a lot of miles out of these!

16 comments

  2. Ooh, they look great! I had so much trouble finding running shoes that fit properly at first, because I run on my toes. But now that I’ve been fitted properly, I could never go back! I wish you many wonderful miles in your new trainers. 😊🏃🏼‍♀️

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  3. Ooo yay for new sneakers! I hope they fix the blister problem! Going a size bigger would never have crossed my mind. But I haven’t run since the spring and I never run as far as you do lol mine are fluorescent orange and are sitting on my shoe rack mocking me right now in their brightness lol

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    • So far, so good! My old blisters are like 95% healed up, so going forward I shouldn’t be getting them as bad. I feel like I had heard about sizing up a while ago but never acted on it. But I’m glad I finally got fitted because I feel a lot better in these shoes. Fluorescent orange?! They sound awesome!

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      • When I was running last year, it was always at like 9pm so I wanted the comfort of having BRIGHT shoes. I miss running but also don’t, I’m not sure I will get back into it but I need to start doing something!

        I’m glad your new shoes are working for you!! Can’t wait to hear about the next race you’re doing!

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    • Yes! If he’s more serious about running, he should look into going to a running store and getting fitted. But he should definitely try on a size larger because it sounds like it’d be too big but your feet need room to swell. I hope his blisters get better! They’re the worst.

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  5. That’s awesome! I’ll have to pick up new sneakers before I go running again — mine are old and falling apart and are perhaps part of the reason I’ve had difficulty running in the past.

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    • There’s no one opinion on when you should replace your sneakers (like after how many miles you’ve run) but I think it’s normally like 300ish miles? But if yours are old and falling apart, it’d probably be a good idea to look into new ones. If you have a running store near you, stop by and see if they can help!

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