If the shoe fits...

I was recently excited to discover I needed a second pair of running shoes; it made me feel like a "real" athlete now that I'd worn out a pair.

Everyone always says that a running store is the place to get running shoes because the staff is knowledgable. The thing is, I have a goofy shoe size. I need a 6 EE. You have no idea how hard it is to find shoes - any shoes. And I love me some shoes... so there are some hidden benefits to me not being able to buy them most of the time. I'm sure my husband is perfectly content that I'll never know the indulgence of Manolos or Jimmy Choos.

Most athletic shoe manufacturers don't carry wide widths. New Balance has always been my refuge, and of course this was where I turned for my first pair of running shoes. This was more than a year ago, before I'd figured some things out - specifically, that the kids who work in these stores don't have a clue what they're doing.

The end result was me buying a pair of $120 running shoes because they were the only ones in the store in my size. The kid insisted they would work for me and I believed him, assuming they got special training on the subject. I did not yet know that you should expect them to look at your feet, watch you run, etc. before making the call.

Those shoes were fine, maybe because I didn't do that much actual running. But I always felt funny in them - like I was strapping high-heeled pillows on.

A few months ago I started to feel some pain during and after running and realized it was time for new shoes. I'd finally located a running store in the vicinity, so that's where I headed. On the surface, the lady seemed very knowledgable. She asked me some specific questions, she inspected my shoes for wear patterns, she looked at my feet, she watched me walk. She made a big show of telling me I'd been wearing the wrong shoes for my type of feet - something about high arches, but she never explained what that meant. She also said something about maybe needing orthotics. That sounded complex and expensive, so I ignored that part.

She then proceeded to have me try on every damn shoe in the store that was the "type" I needed, and after that failed she pulled out the catalog. This really ticks me off - I hear a lot of "try this one, this brand runs a bit wide". I wish shoe salespeople would just accept it when they don't have something to fit and let me move on.

She informed me that Nike's Bowerman series (a men's line) is wide width. She sized me at a men's 5. Then said that Nike shoes run small, and that I should get a half-size bigger. She also said you need to get a half-size bigger to allow for your feet to swell. That put me at a men's 6. Well isn't that convenient, the smallest size the Nike Bowerman comes in is a 6. She special ordered them for me, and I was able to pick 'em up about 2 weeks later.

I went and tried them on... boy, did they feel funky. Loose and slippy in the heel, so roomy in the toe box I feel like I'm sliding around. If I tied it tight enough to keep my foot from slipping, I got shooting pains across my instep.

The lady had insisted that I didn't have to buy them if they didn't fit when they came in; the man who was there when I tried them on was not so nice. He basically told me that I was wrong, they fit fine, they should feel roomy, just tie them tighter. I was so confused and intimidated that I bought the damn things. What do I know about running shoes? This guy does marathons and owns a running store.

I ran in them for a few weeks, and almost immediately I'm limping because the bottom of my foot feels like grinding glass and my heel is tight and sore (plantar fasciitis? achilles tendonitis?). This has been going on for about two months.

I mentioned it to the trainer because I wasn't sure what to do. The other shoes might have been "wrong", but they never caused pain like this. She took one look at my new Nikes and forbade me to run in them ever again. She said that 9 out of 10 people who she knows with plantar fasciaitis were running in Nike shoes. She also said that the woman at the store should be ashamed of herself for selling me men's shoes, because we are so biomechanically different there's no way a men's shoe would be appropriate, especially for an overweight woman.

I was seriously frustrated, because at that point all I had was conflicting opinions on which shoes don't work for me. I wanted some professional advice but there aren't any other running stores in my vicinity. BUT...

I needed to take my bike in, and there is a Fleet Feet two blocks from the bike shop. I decided that would be the perfect way to kill the hour while they fixed my bike.

I took in my old shoes and told the guy there my sob story. He was awesome. He explained things to me, he watched me run, he even got a second person to watch me run to be sure, he explained why he was choosing certain shoes for me. (If you ever go to the Fleet Feet on North Ave in Chicago, ask for Eric.) Best of all, he found 3 pairs of shoes that fit me amazingly well - and had me run in each of them so I could make an informed choice. It was great, and even though it pained me to drop another $110 on shoes when my Nikes are still shiny, I felt confident I was doing the right thing.

I had been avoiding the trip down to this store because it's a 60 mile traffic nightmare, but when I think about the money I've wasted on inappropriate shoes I realized it's more than worth it to spend the time and gas to get it right. I'll never shop at any other running store again.