New Workout Kicks

I have some of the worst feet in the world. Okay, maybe not the worst but the make-up of my feet makes finding good shoes very difficult. Sort of like the trifecta of foot issues.
 

I am the shortest of my family at just 5 feet 6 inches tall. With parents that are 6 foot and a brother that is 6 foot 8 inches, I was cursed with big feet. I know what they say about men with big feet but I am not sure what they say about women with big feet. Regardless, I wear a size 9 and a half and consider my foot to be quite large for my less large stature. Strike One.
 

My mother, aunt, and my grandmother all have very narrow feet and very high arches. I have very narrow feet and very high arches. Finding the right fit of a shoe with narrow feet can also be very difficult. Strike Two.
 

After I lost enough weight to become physically active I got really engaged in walking. It wasn’t long after that my left heal started to hurt. I finally went to the podiatrist. The pain I was feeling wasn’t actually in my heal. I have plantar fasciitis. I also learned that not only did I have very high arches but I also have amazing flexibility in my foot. So much so in fact that when I am barefoot or don’t have proper shoe support my arch collapses. Strike Three.


The podiatrist complimented me on my choice of tennis shoes. When I was having my heal pain I talked to a local company who was at our annual 5K event and suggested I try a stability shoe. She introduced me to the Asics Gel-Kayano, which just happened to be purple. It was also the most amount money I have ever paid for a tennis shoe up to that point in my life.
 

The podiatrist suggested when I was not wearing my tennis shoes that I needed to wear a clog. Clogs are great for plantar fasciitis because it elevates the heal and has solid arch support. The Dankso line also has very good arch support. I wasn’t really a fan of the clog but went to Dillard’s in the mall to see what was available. I purchased a pair of basic black clogs figuring they made the most sense to wear at work. This was the second most money I have ever paid for a shoe up to that point in my life. Dansko clogs have become an obsession, who knew there were so many fun colors and styles, so I will save that for another post. All you need to know right now is that one pair snowballed into 14 (not all clogs as they also have sandals and boots).

 

Okay, back to the reason I started this blog post in the first place! I got some new tennis shoes. I really like the Asics line and since I had the custom orthotics I was hoping I could step down from an actual stability shoe into something more like a natural shoe and perhaps spend less money. I started wearing Asics Gel-Nimbus and they were pretty good. I still feel my plantar fasciitis flair up on occasion though.  It was time for some new shoes though. Asics are known for changing up their shoes from model to model so I decided to try Brooks. They also have stability and neutral shoes and while I like the extra arch support on a stability shoe I feel like my foot is pronating outward. Brooks neutral shoe does have a little higher arch than Ascis so I decided on Brooks Ghost 6.

I hope these will be a good tennis shoe option for my activity and intensity level.  I have heard really great things about the Brooks company.  Here goes nothing!