[at-l] PF or tight boots? Re: What hiking will do for you

[Tom McGinnis]

--- On Wed, 10/7/09, Frank Looper <nightwalker.at at gmail.com> wrote:

>    With me, it's not the knees.
>    My feet start hurting pretty good at about ten miles, and the only
> thing that fixes 'em is the end of the hike. Time to put on the night
> splints again.
>    I only get one more round of shots from the podiatrist before much
> more aggravating/painful attention is paid to my plantar fascii.
>    I dug out the Lowa Renegades today. Waterproofed and polished/waxed
> them. My ankles have become demanding, and my next few hikes are
> hard-fastlight day hikes. With a 5-lb pack, the extra half pound on
> the feet won't matter much. Plus, pToey gets to go "neener-neener"
> about me temp-ditching the New Balances. For awhile only, though,
> Mssr. pToe....
> 
### Hey, FrankenFooter, is your "foot pain" only PF in your heel? That makes a big difference. My last pair of boots had this habit of absolutely *grinding* my feet at the end of a day. No blisters, I would snug 'em up nice and comfy first thing in the morning, and they *never* felt tight. I'd walk all day (big miles, small miles; rock, dirt trail; uphill/downhill/on the flat), and by the end, it used to feel like the AT back in the day of extended asphalt roadwalks -- big miles, wincing feet. I can remember one day in particular when I just loosened my boots a tad to stroll around camp, and my feet felt suddenly fine. Hmmmmm. And that was it -- my boots were a hair tight in the morning, so that as my feet "grew" with that daytime thing, things inside were ground slowly together. Ewwwww. (Now, I know, and loosen at the first sign. WHAT a lovely thing to do.)

So.... what I wonder is, do your feet "recover" when your boots come off? You know, I'm sure, that y'ol' PF will just plain *hurt*, boots or no.

sloegrindtoe