Socks as gear

Ironically, I've had an uneasy relationship with feet my whole life. As a pre-schooler I once ran screaming from the family room when a television commercial featured a camera shot of a vulnerable foot sole being attacked by a thick, black marker. I think the idea was to delineate areas of the foot so we could understand how a Dr. Scholl’s insert could make tired feet feel better. But that's just a guess. As many times as that commercial came on television is as many times as I ran from the room.

For years I was the receiving end of many a bad joke about big feet. "You don't have big feet Lee...you have enormous flippers!" It's true I do have good balance thanks to being heavily weighted at the bottom end by size 9.5 feet on a 5'6" frame.

As a teenager if I was going to get injured, it was always feet first. One foot was crushed between two boats, an ingrown toe-nail never recovered from botched surgery (who operates on an ingrown toenail anyway?), and half a sewing needle found a happy home deep in my foot for more than a year before making itself agonizingly known one summer when I became suddenly unable to walk.

Thankfully, my feet have experienced a renaissance, so to speak, in my adult years. They have carried me thousands, possibly even tens of thousands of kilometres, through marathons and training walks. They have pushed me along the beautiful coast of Big Sur 5 times, through the vineyards of Bordeaux, past the ruins of Rome, around the cerulean hues of Lake Tahoe, up and down the hills of Bermuda, and over the streets of Vancouver, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Edmonton, Quebec City, Seattle, Honolulu, Cleveland, Long Beach, Des Moines, Philadelphia, Dallas, Columbus and, most recently, Miami and Myrtle Beach.

Miraculously, I walked all these miles with nary a blister. I have credited this great good fortune to a huge dollop of genetic luck, engineered shoes, and a thick layer of either Vaseline or shea butter. So, I was surprised when I walked the BI-LO Myrtle Beach Marathon two weeks ago to experience burning on the inside of both heels by mile 8 of the half marathon. I can tell you I was grateful that I was not facing the full marathon distance.

So, what could have caused this unusual turn of events? My shoes were the same New Balance® 903 model I have been wearing for more than a year. I had remembered to grease up my feet even in the fog of a 4am wake-up call. The only difference from walks past was my decision to use a thin, single layer merino wool sock that I had been using religiously in cold Toronto temperatures. Normally, I pull on super thin, super soft, sometimes double layer, synthetic “performance” socks – usually from Wright. I have been so confident in these socks that I have been known to buy a new pair at race expos and wear them the next day in the race without even a trial walk.

My theory is that the wool socks, which featured a slightly rough texture, were the reason for the blisters. Maybe my feet got too hot in the warmer South Carolina temperatures. Maybe the rough texture combined with the heat to create a “perfect storm” at the contact point of my heels.

As you can tell, the experience got me thinking about feet and left me with a new respect for socks as gear. To be sure, I’ll be looking for my softest socks this weekend when I get dressed for the Chilly Half Marathon. I may even stop by my favourite shoe shop for a new pair.

Happy blister-free walking! And let us know your secrets to happy feet.

Lee