kensteve51
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- September 2023
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Your new shoes shouldn't require "breaking in," but you should wear them a few times (not for a few weeks) to make sure that there are no manufacturing defects in them.Also on advice from the forum, started wearing my new shoes today to break then in before my pilgrimage in a few weeks.
Indeed. Over the years, this has been the reason for moving shoes with highly compressible mid-soles from being my active sports shoe to more casual use. It is also one of the reasons that I no longer buy Hoka shoes. I did try these a few years ago, but their mid-sole life was so short that they weren't a good value-for-money proposition.In addition to the visible damage done to shoes over many miles, the cushioning can be reduced. My delicate feet feel that long before the tread wears out.
I had read on the forum about life of shoes. Never in the world would I have thought about mileage on shoes.
If you look closely at the photo you will see what 8 months and about 850 miles did to my wonderful Altra Olympia 5 trail runners.
Look closely at the center of my new shoe on the left and the old shoe on the right.
Following others advice here on the forum, wearing Fox River sock liners, Darn Tough moreno wool socks, and the wide toe box of the Altras, no blisters during my eight months of training! Hope my luck holds on the Camio. Also on advice from the forum, started wearing my new shoes today to break then in before my pilgrimage in a few weeks.
Only 32 more days until I start my journey to St.Jean PP. Hope to take my first step on September 20th. My goal is to make my way from St.Jean to Fenstera, enjoying the walk, in 48 days...never getting in a hurry.
I hope to meet some of you along the way
Buen Camino.I had read on the forum about life of shoes. Never in the world would I have thought about mileage on shoes.
If you look closely at the photo you will see what 8 months and about 850 miles did to my wonderful Altra Olympia 5 trail runners.
Look closely at the center of my new shoe on the left and the old shoe on the right.
Following others advice here on the forum, wearing Fox River sock liners, Darn Tough moreno wool socks, and the wide toe box of the Altras, no blisters during my eight months of training! Hope my luck holds on the Camio. Also on advice from the forum, started wearing my new shoes today to break then in before my pilgrimage in a few weeks.
Only 32 more days until I start my journey to St.Jean PP. Hope to take my first step on September 20th. My goal is to make my way from St.Jean to Fenstera, enjoying the walk, in 48 days...never getting in a hurry.
I hope to meet some of you along the way
For sure, my shoes should be able to handle it and I'm confident they could. The problem is that my feet also "should" be able to handle it, but they can't, without a lot of specialized help from shoes. Those particular shoes are not designed to provide what I need for 800km.Any running shoe/ trainer etc should handle the 800k-odd Frances with ease and still have a bit left.
I have used 4 different pairs of good quality boots on the Camino but on all of them heel tread of the Vibram soles was all gone by 6 - 700 km. Was able to reheal the Lowas twice. Buen Camino
I have simply had the entire heel replaced professionally and this allows the rest of the shoe to wear out naturally. After 2 heels it is time for the poor things to be laid to rest by which time the ball tread has gone flat and the stitching has rotted through. It is sad to retire trusty boots and mountain shoes but needs mustI also experience the premature wearing-out of the "heel strike" area of the Vibram soles of my hiking boots. The rest of the soles and uppers stay serviceable for much much longer than the heel strike areas.
I have a favourite model of leather hiking boot which is a perfect fit to my feet, with good arch support, but they were costly, and I refused to discard them merely because the heel strike areas were wearing out.
I found and purchased on Ebay a supply of replacement crescent-shaped cobblers' "heel strikes" made of a very tough and durable black polymer. The polymer is much more abrasion resistant than normal tread rubber. Also, the crescent shape of the replacement heel strikes exactly matches the shape of the wear pattern of the heels of my boots.
To ensure a secure installation, I roughen the upper surfaces of the replacement heel strikes and the worn heel strike areas of my boots and then coat both with Lepage's [TM] classic neoprene-dissolved-in-toluene type contact cement. After the prescribed drying time I press the heel strikes into position and then place the inverted boots over a cobbler's anvil that I made up from pipe fittings, and then I hammer the replacement heel strikes against the heels to secure the cement bond. Then I reinforce the securement with ringed cobblers' nails, which I also purchased on Ebay. Ringed cobblers' nails hold far better than plain finishing nails. One must select nails sufficiently long to hold the heel strike but not so long that the nails penetrate through the footbed for obvious reasons.
I have performed this retrofit to three pairs of boots with great success. After about two years the replacement heel strikes themselves wear out but the solution is easy: remove the worn-out heel strike and replace. The rest of the boots carry on year after year with little sign of wear.
I have simply had the entire heel replaced professionally ...
I too lost the excellent cobbler that was a skier and climber himself and fully understood what was required to protect your feet. His shop is now a fast food outletIt is great to find a competent tradesman who can be trusted to do a good job, and if you have found a good cobbler, then I am happy for you.
For many years I used the services of an excellent cobbler to maintain my dress shoes - in fact he was a professional shoemaker who built specialized orthopaedic shoes from scratch and frequently rebuilt leather dress shoes. He replaced the leather soles and heels of several pairs of my dress shoes and did and excellent job Repairing a heel strike was less than child's play for him. He knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and did it reliably and promptly, almost certainly without needing to think about it. His hands just did the work automatically while he was chatting with his customers. And he was a good conversationalist too.
Alas, he retired before I walked my first pilgrimage. That was a sad day for his clients.
I have not found a competent cobbler since then. I did have the misfortune of finding an incompetent cobbler who damaged one of my pairs of leather hiking boots. Bearing in mind that the particular model of leather hiking boot that my feet like is no longer made, and I only have a few pairs, and that I am retired with time on my hands, and am an engineering technologist with a ton of tools, I decided to learn how to do the work myself. My customer is demanding and fussy. That knowledge motivates me to do a good job.
It seems that nowadays most folks don't buy footwear of a quality that justifies repairs and rebuilds. As a result, there is less demand for professionally-trained cobblers and the younger generation does not see it as a viable career choice. The remaining good ones are retiring and dying off.
I offer my sincere condolences.I too lost the excellent cobbler that was a skier and climber himself and fully understood what was required to protect your feet. His shop is now a fast food outlet
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