My feet aren't that big!

If the shoe fits...

I used to be a running shoe salesman... ok walking shoes too.  I was good.  On several occasions people came back to the store (Hess Shoes died in 2000) to thank me for helping them select the right shoe.  Their back didn't hurt anymore, their ankles didn't hurt anymore, their bunions didn't hurt anymore...  I felt like a doctor.  Actually I was better than a doctor in some ways.  A guy walks in with a note from his doctor.  "Excuse me young man I need some special shoes".  I'll try to help u sir, let me see that note.  In doctor chicken scratch reads "New Balance".  Oh yeah, u need special shoes alright!  I'm going to give you a boot, write NB in black sharpie marker and you can kick ur doctor in the... I admit that I chuckled aloud.
To be fair the doctor wasn't completely wrong.  This guy needed a shoe that was wider and had a lot of arch support.  He had flattish feet and his gate severely overpronated.  New Balance shoes have a reputation for providing quality shoes, in multiple widths, and with varying degrees of support.  But they also make water shoes.  Lol, Actually it looks like NB water shoes are pretty amazing.  But they wouldn't have helped this guy.
The happy ending?  The guy trusted me, I got him into a well fitting pair of New Balance shoes, and many of the pains he was feeling vanished rapidly.
A lady comes in, she has been running but her feet hurt.  Any good running shoe salesman knows how to look at your feet and diagnose pressure points.  Before she takes the shoes off its obvious that her feet are trying to rip free of these tight shoes.  Out comes the foot, and the bunions become painfully obvious, even through her socks.  I measure her feet and say she's a 10.  "A TEN!  I've NEVER been a TEN!"  I try to explain that running can cause your feet to flatten and so you may move up a half size.  She refuses to be a ten even though her bunions beg for a long/wider toe box.

Shoes matter.  The right type of shoe, the right brand of shoe and the right size of shoe.  If your running shoe store can't tell you how you pronate or the types of shoes that match well with your arches, then you need to find a running shoe store that can.

Years later when I got into marathoning I should have followed my own advice/wisdom.  I wore shoes that were too small.  They felt better/faster.  They were the right type of shoe, and the right brand.  But snug in the toe box.  Thousands of miles later a nerve in my foot became permanently inflammed.  Morton's Neuroma.  Once I relaized the problem, proper shoes couldn't undue it.  It took surgery to beat it.  But it did beat it.  When good shoes fail, find a good foot doctor.  Mine had done several Ironman's.  He was good.

Get the right shoe.  Pay $100 every 3 months if you have to.  Save yourself some pain and save yourself some money in the long-run (pun).

THE END