Shoes----packed & ready to go....

36,000 feet—all nighter from Greensboro, NC to Montreux, Switzerland.
It’s 5:30 am and as I toss and turn in this puny seat a most important question comes front and center in my tired mind. “What running shoes did I pack?” For the life of me I can’t recall what pair made the cut for this trip.

I know that I only took one roller board for this trip as I will be in Switzerland for just seven days. That means I had just enough room for one pair of running shoes. Now this in itself poses a problem. I will have to run at least six days in the same pair of shoes. Not good.

So I hear you thinking, “So what’s the big deal Bubba?” Well here are the facts. Some twenty five years ago when I had only been running for a couple of years I stated to have severe pain in my right hip as I ramped up my miles as I trained for a marathon. It got to the point that I knew I needed to see a specialist.

I hooked up with a sports podiatrist in Alexandria, VA. He analyzed my gait and foot strike and suggested that I needed orthotics due to rather severe pronation. He also asked me how many different pairs of running shoes I was using to train in. I answered that I simply trained in my favorite pair of shoes.

He looked at me and smiled. He then suggested that I needed to diversify my collection of running shoes. He made the point that by wearing the same pair of shoes every day I was reinforcing the potential of injury to my ankles---knees--- and hips.

He noted that we runners are most always creates of habit. We like the same ole worn out shoes—run the same routes every day and on the same side of the street. Not a good thing he said.

All of the above only reinforced any damage and did so on a daily basis. He suggested that I purchase multiple sets of training shoes that---and this is important---that FIT properly. He noted that my toes should have at least a ½ inch of wiggle room in the toe box. That, he noted, would prevent black toe and the subsequent loss of toe nails.

Well my running friends I took that man’s advice some twenty five years ago to heart and became the Imelda Marcos of running shoes. The validation of his advice had been in all the pounding miles I have run over the years. Working on my third trip around the world by foot and I have rarely been sidelined with foot---ankle—knee or hip problems. Kinda makes sense when you give it a little thought.

Now if I could only remember what shoes I packed for this trip??????

Run on my intrepid friends.......:)