On Saturday I stopped at Camires -- our local running store -- because it was well past the time when I should have bought a new pair of running shoes.
My "good" pair of running shoes was ready for retirement this past fall but I was cutting back on my running because of bunion pain afflicting both feet so I put off buying new shoes. Then, upon deciding that I had to have surgery on my left foot, I simply stopped running. (And thus I opted to do the three mile walk rather than the five mile run on Thanksgiving morning.) It made no sense to buy new shoes then because I would not know if my usual shoe model would be the best choice after I recovered from the procedure.
It turns out that the latest version of the shoe (Brooks Beast) is still a good choice for me -- but instead of wearing a regular size
12, I have had to go to a size 12 Wide. Interestingly, this is not because
of my left foot, the one that had surgery, the one where the ball of the
foot is now more prominent than it was before, the one where there is still
a bit of tenderness from the surgery (and the steel plate and the screws)
-- no, it's the other foot. The area where the tongue and the seams at
the base of the tongue fasten to the vamp (the fabric above your toes)
pressed against my big toe on my right foot just enough to cause pain --
which told me two things: (1) that shoe would not work for me and (2) I
guess I really am going to have to have bunion surgery on my right foot
(but not soon).
I had to decide whether to try a larger size, try a wide, or try a different
model. There was a pair of 12-wide handy, so I tried that pair on and both
feet were happy.
I had spent many years as a size 10 1/2 D... probably since I went from
junior high to high school until I took up running. My first running shoes
were 10 1/2 (and they were made by Brooks -- Brooks Chariots, if I recall).
With my second or third pair I went to size 11 and then, a few pairs later,
to size 11 1/2. In recent years I moved to size 12... and now I am in 12
Wide.
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