I learned something very important on my run today about my New Balance 860 v6

I didn’t know how squished my feet, until they weren’t?

Huh???

On my run today with Bennie, we did my usual test run course to see how the 860’s would compare to previous efforts. Since it was his first run in a long time, he was hell-bent on moving right along and I was more than willing to go right along with him, but at a bit more reasonable speed than he wanted.

We did really well until we got down to Shepard Road and had to stop and jump into the snow bank four times before I got to Pepin. Not good, when that are is where I pick it up pretty good to see how a new shoe does at a prolonged faster pace. As you can see on one of the snow bank leaps of faith with Bennie, I didn’t even have a chance to stop my watch. Two vehicles were going to meet where we were and neither was slowing down – snow bank and Bennie airlift was the safe alternative. 

We hit the turn-around in 13:45, not a record, but a quick time for wearing heavier trainers and still wearing winter gear. After that I purposely slowed a little and just brought it back to the end.

I did get up the Bitch without too many problems and then picked it back up that last mile.

To be honest I was surprised at how well the 860’s did at keeping an 8:00 pace. No getting back to my comment at the start.

I didn’t know how squished my feet, until they weren’t?

During the run, I didn’t think about my shoes or if there was a little distraction or worse going on with my right foot, which happened pretty much 90% of the time over the past few years. Instead I focused on keeping up with Bennie, avoiding getting hit and finding a safe place in the snow bank to jump or even looking at lines to keep my feet the driest with the melt water in the roads.

Which is what I want from my shoes and didn’t realize how much my shoes were squeezing my right foot. Wearing the 2E were a revelation and one that I should have known before now, in view of how long I have been running and how many running shoes I have been in over the years.

It really makes me wonder, why I never tried a wider shoe?

I don’t have an answer for that, but I have some ideas, but those are for another post.

In just two runs, I notice a huge difference in how my right foot feels and being able to run in the proper length running shoe, just feels so much more efficient from the too long shoes that I have had to run in order to not bother my right foot.

A good run and more lessons learned.