How do people exercise on sidewalks and still have dry feet?

April 26, 2022 1:29 AM

How do people walk/run for exercise on hard surfaces but still have dry feet, if the running shoes their feet tolerate are not waterproof?

I’m a forty-something woman who does a lot of dog-walking/running on sidewalks around town and would like to have warm dry feet this winter.

Basically, I’m sick of the cycle of: walk dog, get wet feet from puddles or rain, take off running shoes, put same cold, damp running shoes on again a few hours later to walk dog again. I don’t even live anywhere particularly wet (Western Australia), so I’m trying to figure out what you North Americans do?? There must be a solution that’s not either ‘wear uncomfortable shoes’ or ‘have cold damp feet’. Is there some way to dry the shoes fast without wrecking them?

Complications: my feet are extremely picky. They are flat, narrow, over-pronating, and suffer from sesamoiditis. The *only* running shoes I can tolerate on hard surfaces are Brooks Adrenaline in 2A (narrow) fit. It has taken a lot of time/podiatrists/gait analysis etc to find these holy grail shoes, which are the only ones I don’t need custom orthotics in. I currently buy one pair every 8-12 months and they’re the only shoes I exercise in. (I have thought of buying 2 pairs to rotate so they’d get more drying time in-between, but would rather not as they are $260 a pair here in Oz, and I’m not sure they’d dry quickly enough to solve the problem anyway.)

How can I have feet that don’t hurt yet are still dry?? Is there a waterproof spray or something that actually works, or do people put their shoes in the tumble dryer, or…what? My house has no radiators/central heating, just a reverse-cycle air-con. I know there are waterproof trail shoes and the like, but then they won’t fit the specific needs of my feet like my Brooks and also are not designed for walking on concrete, so my feet will be warm and dry but…sore? :/

Am I missing something obvious?! Please hope me!

posted by Salamander to Health & Fitness (22 answers total)

I walk regularly in rainy Oregon and do have some custom orthotics that I move between shoes, including waterproof hiking shoes. When it’s really wet, I can put them in my rain boots.

But perhaps what you need is a boot dryer. I used one for situations just like what you’re describing, til it broke. The air comes up gently, into to the shoe, so it’s not as rough as a tumble dry and gets the insides first.

I also sometimes put shoes upside on a floor vent, but that’s not quite as effective.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:31 AM on April 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

Oh, there are also waterproof socks, but I don’t love them, and they’re pricey. Some folks swear by them.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:33 AM on April 26, 2022

Yes, what you want is a boot dryer. Shoes fresh off the boot dryer are satisfying in the same way as towels fresh out of the clothes dryer. If you’re sloshing through puddles twice a day it won’t get them completely dry but they’ll be dryer, and warm.
posted by HotToddy at 2:41 AM on April 26, 2022

Best answer: I would actually recommend getting a second pair if you can swing it - it’s not so much an additional expense as “stocking up” since runners are a consumable product that you’re going to have to replace regardless. Two pairs will last at least twice as long as one pair, maybe longer (people say wearing shoes wet reduces the lifespan but I think this is more of an issue with leather shoes).

I have similarly picky feet (albeit in all the opposite directions) and I wear mesh trail shoes in all weather but I only wear them once a day and they do seem to dry out nicely overnight.

Finally, counterintuitively, if there’s a lighter-weight mesh shoe that you can tolerate, you may find that although your feet get a bit wetter on the initial run/walk, they do at least dry out faster so they don’t feel soggy when you put them back on.
posted by mskyle at 3:17 AM on April 26, 2022 [20 favorites]

I would spring for custom orthotics and get a waterproof hiking shoe. The custom orthotics should “pay for themselves” by giving you the flexibility to wear other shoes.
posted by Kriesa at 4:39 AM on April 26, 2022

Waterproof socks plus a liner. I like the sealskinz brand.
posted by Jobst at 4:51 AM on April 26, 2022

Spring for a second pair. It will actually make both pairs last longer in addition to helping with the moisture problem.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:02 AM on April 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

This doesn't address the shoe issue directly (although a boot dryer sounds like a good solution), but I also want to suggest wearing merino wool socks if you're not already. I run/hike in the PNW, and discovered the magic of wool, in that it won't keep you dry, but will keep you warm. I've found eliminating the cold portion makes the wet feet much more tolerable. Darn Tough is the brand I use - not sure if they ship to Australia, but if not, any merino wool socks should do.
posted by carlypennylane at 5:14 AM on April 26, 2022 [9 favorites]

Get rain boots.
posted by dobbs at 5:49 AM on April 26, 2022

Putting crumpled-up newsprint in your shoes will help them dry more quickly, but it may take longer than a couple of hours.

I'll second the suggestion of merino wool socks. Mine come from New Zealand, so likely cheaper for you than the shipping to me in Canada.
posted by TORunner at 6:22 AM on April 26, 2022

People used to wear galoshes, and they might still be right for your dog walks.
posted by daisyace at 6:52 AM on April 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Some dryers have add-on shelf inserts you can slide into a couple of notches in the frame which, because they're only attached to the frame, don't rotate with the drum. They slide out after you're done. You can thus use them to dry items that shouldn't be tumbled. I use mine for wet shoes and professional clothing.
posted by praemunire at 7:12 AM on April 26, 2022

How about galoshes? They were A+++ as a kid and I can see why they still might work for you.

(on Preview, what daisyace said)
posted by nkknkk at 7:14 AM on April 26, 2022

Seconding the boot dryer - it's how I get through the winters riding my bike here in PDX - where I have soaking wet shoes and socks when i get to the office and need to have them dry within a couple of hours. They are really effective.

In general though, I think it might be worth trying to find a pair of boots/galoshes that will last through your weather patterns and are comfortable given your foot needs.
posted by iamabot at 7:30 AM on April 26, 2022

Here’s how I handle walking my dogs in the american Pacific Northwest:

Socks - wool or synthetic. Never cotton.

Shoes - most of my day to day shoes are lightweight waterproof trailrunners. Similar to you, I have picky feet, and I tried quite literally dozens of pairs to get one that worked without needing custom orthotics.

Shoes - a few pairs, so I can let one dry in the (relatively rare) case that they get wet.
posted by whisk(e)y neat at 9:33 AM on April 26, 2022

Wool socks will help. It probably wouldn't hurt to stuff the damp shoes with newspaper after use either.

However, this North American concurs with others above that I would generally expect to let damp sneakers dry overnight (at least) before wearing again. For your use case, I would need either two pairs of sneakers or one water resistant pair of shoes.
posted by oceano at 9:33 AM on April 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

In addition to some of the great suggestions, I don't think I'm unusual in that I wear my actual running shoes only for running, and have other shoes (retired running shoes, boots, etc.) for rainy dog-walking, gardening, etc.
posted by Pax at 4:30 PM on April 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Well, people who are really hard up and have leaky shoes or boots put a bread bag on each foot, over the sock and before they put on the boot. There's no reason you couldn't do a plastic bag on each foot the same way. That wouldn't keep the shoes from going mildewy, but would keep your feet dry and make stepping into them not so nasty.
posted by Jane the Brown at 8:55 PM on April 26, 2022

I’m trying to figure out what you North Americans do?? There must be a solution that’s not either ‘wear uncomfortable shoes’ or ‘have cold damp feet’. Is there some way to dry the shoes fast without wrecking them?

Not really? A boot dryer is one option, yes, but one that runs high enough to dry your shoes in a couple of hours will definitely shorten the lifespan of your shoe's glue. I would hazard that most people either have task-specific shoes (or in your case it would be multiples of the same shoe), deal with the damp feet, or just...don't go back out once the shoes are soaked.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:17 AM on April 27, 2022

(Also Brooks Adrenaline specifically are just...not warm. They are my workout shoe as well and they are just simply designed to maximize ventilation for your feet which in the winter means, freakin cold.)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:20 AM on April 27, 2022

I don't run, but I do a lot of walking and don't really have any issues with feet getting damp (and I live in a place that rains pretty frequently). How about wearing thicker shoes/socks when you walk? There are some pretty comfortable boots out there.
posted by bearette at 1:44 PM on April 27, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks so much for all answers. They were all helpful, but in the end I went with buying a second pair of identical shoes. $$ but worth it.
posted by Salamander at 11:20 PM on July 19, 2022