A couple of months ago I brought some Addias Kanadia trainers to be used for cross country and multi terrain training/racing, these were picked from a selection of others that I tried at a SportsDirect store, it also just so happens that these are a size 8 as I usually wear 7's but my usual size was too tight and my toes were just touching the front.

After breaking them in with a few short easy training sessions I completed a 10k cross country race about 3 weeks ago and picked up my first ever blister on the outside of my big toe, put it down to my single layer compression socks. I used them again yesterday in a trial 12k cross country run ready for next saturday's race at the same location, this time with 2 layer socks and a special blister patch over my now dry blood blister and guess what........ I now have another blood blister under my old one !!!!!

So I think I have 3 options, 1) grin and bear it and run again in the Kanadias knowing that it could worsen the situation, 2) use my normal road race shoes which are Nike Lunarglides if next week is dry, or 3) I have just brought online a pair of Brooks Mach 10 Spikes for £20 awaiting delivery and were going to be used for the XC session but may need to bring them in sooner.

Any other suggestions please.

Hi Martin, been there, done that, even got the video :-)

I'm a neutral runner and these were in my range, we have a specialist store not far from me, but like all small specialist shops it tends not to be the most competitive when it comes to shoe prices, that said I have spent somewhere in the region of £600 in that store over the last 12 months. As I do 40+ miles per week shoes only last me around 3 months and that with swapping around my current three pairs.

Nowadays I do tend to do a lot of research and narrow it down to around 3 pairs then go round the shops and try them on, it just so happens that Sportsdirect had the best price for the shoe which I then brought on the spot after trying on of course. Also I wouldn't entertain some of the prices over £80 unless I have them for a speciifc purpose (i.e. the Lunarglides reserved just for racing) as that means I will be spending around £400 per year on just replacements.

I will still use the Kanadia's but only for short distances under 5 miles at an easy pace, but for anything more competitive I will need to use something else.

These are the first ones to give me blisters of the 5 other pairs (2 Reebok, 1 Asic, 2 Nike) that I have used over the last 12 months.

P.S. How is the training going Martin, haven't heard from you for a bit. 

Hi Helen,

I've checked where the nearest store is and I am slap bang in the middle of two locations one in Birmingham and the other in Leicester both 22 miles away. I might wander over to Brum at some time as I still need a pair of multi terrain shoes to replace the Addidas pair as the spikes will only do for soft ground and my others are mainly for road running.

I think I can get a discount too, I need to suss that one out.