When more doesn’t help

I was freezing in London.

Layers on layers. Thermal leggings. Merino. Thick sweater. Down jacket.
Still cold to the bone after a few hours of walking.

So I gave in and bought a serious winter puffer — rated for -30°C.
Overkill? Maybe.

But within half an hour I had to take layers off.
First the thermal. Then the sweater.

The problem wasn’t the cold.
It was the wrong jacket.

And this is exactly what I see with runners.

If you consistently have:

• painful feet

• recurring injuries

• discomfort that “just won’t go away”

You’re not broken.
You’re not “not made for running.”

You’re just wearing the wrong shoes.

Fixing symptoms instead of the cause

Most runners try to solve shoe problems by:

• adding insoles

• sizing up or down

• changing sock thickness

• switching models every few months

That’s like adding more layers under a jacket that doesn’t insulate.

Like I tried to do.

It might help a bit — but the core issue remains.

A real example from the shop

A while ago, a kid came into the store who had stopped enjoying sports altogether.
His feet always hurt.

His parents had tried everything:

• multiple doctors

• physiotherapy

• podiatry

• different shoes and insoles

Nothing stuck. No clear explanation. No long-term plan.

I looked at his gait, how he loaded his feet, and how his shoes interacted with that.
I explained why his current setup kept failing him, what kind of shoe actually matched his movement, and which small gait details he could work on.

A few months later, his parents left this review:

Nothing magical changed about his body.
We just stopped fighting symptoms and addressed the cause.

What to do differently next time you buy shoes

On your next shoe purchase, don’t ask:
“What’s popular right now?”

Shoes like the Superblast, Evo SL, or Vomero Premium are great —
if you already have a developed gait and the capacity to use them well.

For many runners (especially beginners), they’re simply not the right tool yet.

Instead, ask:

• What does my gait need right now?

• How stable is my loading pattern?

• What type of shoe supports my current training load?

Getting comfortable with running starts with choosing equipment that matches how you move, right now.

With the new year starting, a lot of runners are increasing mileage, starting plans, or returning after a break. That’s exactly when the wrong shoes start to show up as pain or injury.

If you want to start this year with a setup that actually fits your running, you can book a shoe consultation.

We’ll break down your gait, identify what you need at this stage, and pick shoes that support that. In the last few months, I’ve helped 31 runners fix persistent shoe-related issues by looking at gait, training load, and shoe choice together.

Thank you for reading,

Tim 👟