While I was in France last week, not running and eating lots of cheese, I got chatting with a woman who was a nurse in the UK. Despite not being a runner or having any inclination towards becoming one, she began to lecture me on the subject. I was willing to hear her out  – mostly because I’m always keen to chat about A) running and B) myself, which is why I have this blog.

She looked my feet over and told me that I’m wearing the wrong shoes to run in and that I need to get fitted properly. Now this is what you’re told on day 1 of becoming a runner. It’s something that I’ve done a couple of times and probably the reason why I’ve been (so far) pretty successful in avoiding any injury that will put me out of running action (that and a whole lot of luck).

Keen to hear more I listened while she elaborathed. Her diagnosis: my shoes are too narrow which is why I have calluses on my little toes and they’re turning in. Much as I usually love being told to buy new shoes, she was wrong. My feet are narrow. So much so that when I was fitted for school shoes as a child I always had to have the shoe shop put something ‘done’ to the shoe to pad it out. And those calluses on my little toes have been there for close to 10 years now since I was too lazy to put socks on under a pair of Allessi (do they still exist?) trainers to walk a mile to my friends house. I got blisters that became calluses and never really went away. Even I can do the basic maths that tells me the calluses were there 8 years before I started running.

Well intended as this advice was, it was far off the mark – as a lot of advice is. I’m no expert on running, I only know more than some people and less than others. So my point is, don’t listen to advice – listen to information and listen to experience, and then make an informed choice about what you think is right for you.