How I hate the special hell that purchasing running shoes is for me.

I am "blessed" with a particularly wide mid sole, especially for a girl. Shoes, and running shoes in particular don't do that in almost all cases. Moreover, because of my fallen arches and inserts I now have to wear, this gets tricky. My old shoes (Men's Asics Cumulus 9's) being mostly flattened, my shins are telling me they are unhappy again, so trying on new shoes and saying "Oh, my shins are feeling this too much," is hard to do because they already felt too much. Add to that the desperate need to keep costs around or below $100 if at ALL possible, and the need to work with someone who respects that my orthotic inserts (not full on orthotics, but something that does what my foot needs) take care of what my foot needs, and going to any old store doesn't work. I just went to Hibbets and had a less than ideal experience with a guy who insisted I needed a full on motion control shoe, namely The Beast by Brooks, because of my fallen/low arches. Never mind that I already told him the inserts I wear compensate for that and I have arches now compliments of MANY MONTHS of physical therapy. I tried the shoes because some of what he was saying made sense, (straight last for my wider foot, etc.) Then I went home and called the local running store that I spent most of the summer in trying on well over 20 shoes and testing out several and bringing them back. I was lucky enough to get one of the guys who spent sooo much time helping me last time and who knows his stuff real well. I poured my concerns and into his patient ear and filled him in on the history of my physical therapy and the inserts. He thought I'd purchased "The Beast" shoes I tried and was concerned that those were what the guy insisted I needed and put me in. He definitely thought they were all wrong for me and was not surprised that my shins hurt when I ran, though he also wasn't surprised the straight last felt good to my foot.

So, tomorrow I think I will go back to the guys who took such good care of me before and see what they have for me this year. One of the reasons I was tempted by The Beast by Brooks was that the shock absorbing material it has is more consistent throughout the extreme temperatures, and I run in it all outside here. I'm not in the North, but where I live is in a slight valley that is in the mountains and I see -0 wind chills with 25-35mph winds and 40-60mph gusts throughout the winter in addition to very humid heat indexes in the 90's in the spring and summer. Because of where we are the summers are better here than they would otherwise be, but there are still some very hot weeks with plenty of sun.

I desperately hope that I am able to find something that will work with my feet/body and be less than $100, or at least less than $110!