Why you shouldn’t walk (or run) a mile in someone else’s shoes

The old saying “try walking a mile in someone else’s shoes” is a great concept and a wonderful metaphor, however, it’s not one to be taken on a literal level! I’ve often toyed with buying ‘as good as new’ or ‘only worn a few times’ with running shoes on eBay but always been advised that it’s a bad idea as it’s molded to someone’s feet etc... Recently I was away at my mum and dads where I leave a pair of oldish running shoes so I don’t have to take any when I visit. My brother does the same. I looked at the state of mine and they weren’t brilliant. Then I saw my brothers. Only half a size bigger. A few hundred miles in them and I thought ‘why not’? Can it really be that bad? I’m only doing 4 miles. Here’s what happened!

1. My heels hurt. A lot. The first run seemed fine. The shoes were lighter than I’m used to and coming down some of the hills I felt fast and free. However, the next day my right heel started hurting badly after a mile and I was struggling to put much pressure on either heel for the next couple of days.
2. My legs were mashed. And I mean mashed. I used them on a Sunday and a Monday. I went for a run with my wife on the Thursday and I’ve never been in as much discomfort with something that wasn’t an injury. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the back of my thighs. I love my wife to bits but she’s a couple of mins per mile slower than me on a parkrun but when she kicked for home I was struggling to keep up.
3. My back was sore. Granted I usually have fairly high levels of support in my shoes due to majorly over pronating but using shoes that had been molded to someone else’s feet played havoc with my back. I spent 2 or 3 days not being able to sit comfortably.

So I’ve learnt my lesson the hard way (albeit without any long-term damage I hope!) So next time someone is selling some ‘barely used’ running shoes at a discount price, be very very careful!