Adventures in shoe fitting Pt. 2

Today's been a big day running wise, and this merited a post all to itself. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the merits of my new running shoes, and how they were wonderful and rad. Well, as the weeks wore on it transpired that they were less amazing than I first thought. Not for me the usual blisters on the heels or the toes, oh no. My shoes were bruising and blistering the arches of my feet. It would be OK for the first 5k or so but then it start to be sore and after ten kilometres it'd feel crippling. My run on Wednesday culminated in my hobbling home as a result (it's a surprisingly sensitive area!)and I felt it was time to do something about it. I had bought my original pair from Shoe Clinic, a chain that offers the full monty of video gait analysis, sizing etc. etc. They also offer a 30 day return policy on shoes that have been prescribed by them. Due to my holiday I was outside the 30 days, but I figured they might be able to suggest an insole or something that would stop the pain. They say that if you get good service somewhere, you tell one person. Get bad service, you tell ten. I figure that good service is worth as much airtime as bad so I want to go on record here and say that Shoe Clinic Ponsonby were brilliant. The two sales staff got me back on the treadmill in bare feet to see if they could ID the problem, then after a lot of conferring as to how to fix the problem got me another type of shoe. After some more treadmilling, they did a swap on the shoes, and even showed me how to lace my left shoe to hold the foot in place better in the trainer (there's more movement on that side apparently). No grumping about doing an exchange, hell they even said if the problem persists to come back and see what else can be done! They were also happy to spend time and talk about their own training for the marathon, and swap running stories. As a relative newb who hardly has a runner's build, it's really nice to be treated as an equal and not patronised.

ASICS Gel Cumulus 14- more neutral than a beige sweater in Zurich

I'm absolutely over the moon about this as I couldn't afford another $250 for shoes (I need a decent running bra but that's a whole other story) but I couldn't keep running in the ones I had. So cheers guys, I really appreciate it and I recommend them 100%

  Note: I didn't get anything from Shoe Clinic for this review, they didn't know I was writing this, etc. etc.