Do I Need Some New Balance in My Life?

I got a comment on Thursday’s post about how much they like New Balance shoes. That makes two of us! I used their walking shoes for years, but when I decided to train for a marathon, I went with another brand’s running shoe. It just didn’t work out, and I was getting metatarsalgia, a very painful swelling in the metatarsal area of my left foot. I went to a podiatrist, and after an exam and X-rays, he told me to go with a shoe with the widest possible toe box. I went back to look at New Balance and found a shoe that seems to work, and I’ve stuck with it.

Here are my New Balance shoes that I wore in the 2005 Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage. Can you see that it was a wet and muddy race? I wanted to bronze these shoes afterwards! :)


Even with the New Balance shoes, what saved my feet was putting in a pair of orthotic inserts which provide support to the arch. This spreads the weight around and takes some of the pressure off the forefoot. Without these inserts, I was still having some issues when I would start going up around 8-10 miles of training. I’ve taken to using the inserts with hiking boots too, because I have the same pain with my left metatarsal region on hikes as well. I think as my feet swell, there is pressure put across the forefoot and the bones compress in on a nerve. It feels like getting an electric shock, especially while hiking a rough trail and the side of my foot presses into a rock.

I started out with a New Balance running shoe, even though I was training to walk the Anchorage Marathon. At the speed and distances we walk, it puts about as much stress on one’s feet as runners get. Now that I also run some of the marathon, it is even more important to have running shoes. These shoes have worked out very well – with athletics, when you find something that works, you tend to stick with it. I go through two pairs, and sometimes three, to train for and do a marathon. The goal is that at marathon time, I’ll be running and walking in shoes with about 100 miles on them, so my marathon shoes always have good life left afterwards and I use them for a while. In fact I am still using my Arizona Marathon pair from January, but they are pretty well shot and should be replaced. I was feeling it on the 12 miler a week ago. Replacement is expensive – we are talking nearly 200 bucks for the shoes and the inserts.

When I get a new pair, I use the old pair for just general use, short walks, that kind of thing. My current old pair is practically junk right now. I don’t even want to guess how many miles are on them! Even though I don’t want to spend the money right now, I think I will have to soon, because I want to gear up my miles – both walking and running. Then my Arizona pair will become my general use pair, and I will have some new New Balance in my life!