Have you done surgery on you trail runners?

I can't help on this as the only 'surgery' I've done in the past is to try lame repairs, typically without a lot of success (shoes take a beating on trail).

But I have little toe side bunions and this year I'm finding it particularly hard to discover a shoe that I'm confident will work for me. So my fallback plan is to bring a razor blade and slice open the sides of the shoes (adjacent to the base of the toes) if I start feeling sore.

Exacerbating things for me is that both of my longer trips this year will likely involve a lot of cold and snow, thus I need the extra volume for a decent set of wool socks inside.

Asics 4E running shoes seem to be about as good as I can find at this point. And they MIGHT work unaltered — TBD, as I haven't been doing really long training hikes, and it takes me tens of continuous miles typically before my problem surfaces.

Yet one other questionable factor — I size my shoes up 1-1/2 sizes over my nominal foot size; that's just now what's normal/comfortable for me. But with the way my shoes are shaped, it means the widest outer bulge spot on the shoe is forward of the widest part of my foot. I'm seriously thinking about trying a pair only 1 full size larger (that's about as far as I'm willing to back off there, however …).

Anyway — glad you raised this issue, and I look forward to the responses too!

Let me add, however, that when I've had shoes wear through in the uppers on long trips that it's really trail-specific how much of an issue that is. Sometimes I would get little rocks and debris coming in, but for the most part surprisingly not.

My plan if I have to gain a little side volume is to simply make slits on the sides and see how that works, in hopes that approach will minimize how much trail debris can get in.

Dust, there's no hope for that on a dusty trail in breathable footwear anyway. I'm talking about grit-sized upward, stuff that could conceivably cause blisters.

You say it's only a problem going downhill? I've had similar problems with my toes getting mashed not the front of my shows and ending up with gnarly toes and bloody toenails falling off all over the place. I've experimented a lot with different lacing patterns and found that an overhand know above the third or fourth eyelet and then really cinching down the laces above works well. Another thing that works is going straight up from the second-to-the-top eyelet to the top on each side, then crossing the laces back through the little loop before tying; keeps the foot from sliding forward. Crappy description, I know, but you get the idea? If not and you're interested I can try to figure out how to post a photo…

Hi Mark

Not so fast with blaming your feet. The problem may be a mismatch between your feet and whatever shoes you were trying, with neither feet nor shoes being at fault. Let me explain.

Feet come in many different shapes. Brands which sell just one shape of shoe are aiming at the middle of the market in the hope enough people will fit. Only the biggest companies make shoes in different widths and with different lasts (shapes).

Now, in your case, I suggest that what is happening is that your foot is sliding too far forwards in the shoe when you are going downhill. Yes, you can overcome some of this by going to a bigger size, but there are limits to that approach.

If the shoes you have been wearing are designed with a high instep, while your feet have a low instep, then your feet are going to slide forwards. (Instep height: ground to top of arch) You need to find some shoes with a low instep height. For a more detailed insight into all of this, go to any shoes on http://www.newbalance.com and click on the 'Learn more about shoe lasts' tag at the bottom of the page.

What I find is nice about the New Balance web site is that they are very serious about helping you find shoes which fit. Not only do they make shoes in various widths, including lots in 4E, but you can search/filter on specs like '4E' and 'deep toe box' to find shoes which fit you.

Having found a shoe which fits your feet, the next thing is lacing, as OP has suggested. If you are doing lots of downhill you may need to tighten the lacing slightly to hold your foot back against the heel. That's the idea anyhow: you will need to experiment a bit.

Cheers