My Salomons & The left-foot blister

I’m going to have to get some new shoes. Yes, even though I have gushed all over my faithful Salomons, these newest ones have done me wrong. I think it boils down to a simple case of “if the shoe doesn’t fit.” I need a half-size smaller, I think. Actually to be precise, my left foot needs a half-size smaller. No matter how tight I cinch the thing, no matter whether I pad with moleskin, my left heel will just not stay in the heel cup.

It became a big problem on my first Dolason Prairie Hike, the one with the internet stalker. At the time I thought it was just some debris had fallen into my sock/shoe and was irritating me. But I couldn’t seem to dig it out on the trail. When I got home and got the suckers off my feet, I found no real debris to speak of, but I did find one hellacious blister. Anyway, I tried to pad the back of the shoe with moleskin to take up the slack, but on the next trip to Dolason Prairie, it proved to be no match for the heel slippage.

The blistering was a duesy, too – it left me limping for the better part of a week, regardless of padding and bandaging. So I’m eager to avoid it if at all possible, which it seems should be possible.

The funny – or not, really – thing about this is, when I initially ordered them, I had what would have been the right-sized shoe in my possession to begin with. But I was hesitant and felt like it was going to be too tight, and sent them back for a half-size larger.

Oops. My bad.

Now, with possession of a new camera, I aim to clean them up, list them on craigslist, and buy a new set. That fits.