Mama’s Got New Shoes

Running shoes, that is.

I’ve been plagued with shin splints during my runs for the last couple of months. There weren’t many runs, sure, but I also haven’t had shin splints at all since I bought my current shoes. It was an immensely good feeling to be able to run consistently pain-free for over 200 miles.

But now I’m splinty. I’d been wanting to try minimalist running shoes (0mm – 4mm heel-to-toe drop) for the last few years–even when I bought my current conventional 12mm running shoes. I came up with all sorts of reasons why I shouldn’t (I’m overweight, I might break myself, etc.), and then let the running store guy finish talking me out of it.

I’m not too sad, since those shoes served me well, but now I’m ready to experiment, so yesterday I picked up a pair of New Balance Minimus 10 trail shoes, which have a 4mm drop.

The few little jaunts I’ve done today have had no shin pain, despite having to stop running yesterday on account of the pain.

That said, I’m having a heel rubbing problem. I admittedly picked the wrong socks to wear today–they slipped down the heel repeatedly this morning–but the running store guy said he regularly wears this shoe without socks and finds them rather comfortable.

I fixed the sock problem this afternoon, but my Achilles’ are raw, so it’s pretty difficult to make any further assessment. I’ve walked a couple of miles in them already today, and they feel really good, aside from that. I love the feeling of the smaller drop. In fact, when I tried on the Brooks PureDrift and took out the insert to have a zero drop experience, it felt phenomenal to walk around.

If the heel rubbing continues to be a problem tomorrow, I’ll likely exchange for the Drifts. It was a really close call, but I went for the comfy toe snuggles of the Minimus. (The Drifts had an unusually wide toe box that was also comfortable, but in a different way.)