[pct-l] How Many Trail Shoes / When to buy them

[Brian Lewis]

"I am reading that people tend to wear 4-6 pairs of shoes. Thoughts?
I have also read that feet sometimes swell/expand, sometimes even a 1/2
size larger. Thoughts?"


A tough one for all of us; I'm making my best guess at this too.

My solution was to find a shoe I liked (after way too many attempts) and get
comfortable wearing it in a size that's about 1 to 1-1/2 sizes bigger than I
normally wear --- it fits okay that way if laced snugly.  And I'm liking
that I just never even think about hitting the ends of my shoes with my
toes.

Having worn these shoes a on a few hundred miles of trails last year, I'm
taking a deep breath and buying about 6 pairs, planning to replace my shoes
every 500 - 700 miles.   Even if they're not completely worn out --- so I
have good cushioning.

My biggest concern is that my feet will spread out so that even these aren't
as big as I'd like.  If so, I'll order a larger size online, and reckon that
the ones that I bought in advance will be a fine size for me to use after I
get back to normal life.   Because I really like this particular shoe!

I would be really insecure about buying shoes among a random selection while
on the trail.  One of the shoes I tried last year I liked a lot in the
store, but they gave me a truly evil heel blister after just a few tens of
miles on the trail due to rigid heel cups that didn't turn out to be shaped
sufficiently closely to my heels.



	Brian Lewis