[pct-l] Sandals and shoes

[elee at microsoft.com (Eric Lee (GAMES))]

Charles wrote:
>
I've read with interest the discussion on New Balance 806's.  I noticed
that I tended to go over on my ankle to the outside (over pronate?) when
I was wearing mine. I have a really wanky wide forefoot and toes and
really liked the roominess of my 806's. I like the NB footbeds better
than my superfeet but they are pretty thick and take up a lot of room.
My baseline packweight was about 18 lbs. so I kept that pretty light.
Any suggestions to correct the shoe problem? Different shoes? Do I have
to go to a mid cut for more ankle support?
>

Do you mean that you tend to walk on the outside edges of your feet?
That's over-supination, which I have pretty badly myself.  See
http://www.steenwyk.com/pronsup.htm for a good explanation of the
difference between supination and pronation.

I can give you the perspective of someone with bad ankles and a history
of serious sprains.  My ankles are stupid.  If I don't pay close
attention they'll roll for no apparently reason.  Each time I sprain
them they lose a little more strength.

Because of my weak ankles I've worn mid-cut hiking boots for most of my
hiking life, but a couple of years ago I felt that my ankles were
getting stronger, and my hiking poles were giving me a lot more
stability, so I decided to try low-cut trail runners instead.  I wore
them for about a year on various day hikes and weekend trips and they
were great - I loved them!

For several years now I've been doing one PCT section per year and in
2003 I did Washington section K from Stevens Pass to Stehekin in my
trail runners.  Unfortunately, about 30 miles into it I stepped wrong
and seriously sprained my ankle again.  I didn't have a good bailout
option so I taped it up with athletic tape and hobbled onward, but that
didn't do my ankle any good, of course.  It took me almost a year to get
that ankle back into hiking shape and my podiatrist warned me that one
more sprain like that could end my hiking career permanently.

So with that threat hanging over me, I'm back to lightweight, mid-cut
boots.  I've thought about maybe trying an ankle brace with low-cut
trail runners but I haven't yet found a brace that I could trust to not
give me massive blisters on 20 mile days.  (If anyone has suggestions,
I'd love to hear them!)  Since I do most of my hiking in the northwest,
lightweight boots aren't such a bad thing anyway.  I'm not sure what
I'll do in the desert, but in any case it'll be a long time before I
work my way down there.

Clearly, most people don't have the problems that I do and my advice
doesn't apply to most people.  But if you know you're prone to ankle
sprains, then my advice is to play it as safe as you can.  Once you
seriously injure your ankles they may *never* regain their former
strength.  That's not something you want to mess around with.

Eric