Yesterday I went hiking. There is a beautiful park just 5-10 minutes from my house with all sorts of paths. I love hiking. The sound of the birds. The trees. Fresh air. The sounds of water and animals playing. Oh, and don’t forget my favorite songs playing on my Airpods. I’m that creeper walking around like a giant smiley-face emoticon. I’m joyfully saying hi to strangers and weird things like, “We meet again!” when someone I saw at the beginning of my hike and I make it halfway around the loop.

Last year I started the hiking around the beginning of April as well. Almost immediately my plantar fasciitis became inflamed in my feet. I basically had to quit hiking until I figured something out. Plantar Fasciitis is when the band of tissue that runs across your foot from your heel to your toes becomes inflamed.

I didn’t know how to handle it when it started happening so instead of treating it, I waited for the inflammation to calm down some and went hiking again and again until I could barely stand. From what I understand, you can break up the fascia inflammation by rolling your foot on a tennis ball or a foot roller. Here’s the one I use:

Go ahead, click the picture. It will take you to that foot roller. It’s like, $8. I love it so much, I got one for my trainer because she had had plantar fasciitis and then I got one for my training partner because she was training for a Marathon and I thought she needed it for preventative maintenance.

When I run or hike, I find that I have to use the roller every night or I have severe pain in my heels. We’re talking, one day I was having such severe pain that I hobbled downstairs to get my crutches. It took me about 15 minutes to get down there because I kept having to stop and regroup. I was in tears by the time I got down there just to realize I can’t use regular crutches anymore because of all of the surgeries I’ve had on my wrist. Talk about frustrating. I turned around and crawled back up the stairs and to the couch and laid there all day. It’s no joke!

Yesterday was my first time hiking for the year. I have a pair of Hoka One One Cliftons, which I have heard are good for trail running (though they’re not categorized on Hoka’s site as such). Hokas are a type of tennis shoe my trainer turned me on to and I’m telling you, I’ll never turn back. They have a ton of cushion and I even added a heel lift in there just for one more added level of cushion and support. I’m not messin’ around ya’ll! I want to remain active all summer this year so I’m taking precautions!

I even bought a pair of Hoka One One Bondi’s which I wear for running. They’re one of Hoka’s more padded shoes and they have been a dream. I use to have pain when I ran due to the rod in my tibia and the weight I have gained since I got the rod. Now if I feel the pain it is minimal or because I’m still working on my cardio and I can’t breath when I run!

Here is a link to Hoka One One Cliftons

Here is a link to Hoka One One Bondis

If you’re looking for a cute shoe to wear with a pair of skinny jeans, these are not your jam. If you’re looking for a pair of shoes to save you a lot of pain and give you support you never knew a shoe could give, Hoka’s are your shoe. Don’t get me wrong, my Cliftons are black and white and adorable. Bondi’s though, well, they just have a LOT of padding and a thick sole. They’re not going to be the cutest shoe you ever put on your foot and you might feel like you have Flintstone feet with them on. If you can get past that, they will be your favorite shoes ever.

My Bondi’s are pink and I love them. It didn’t take long for me to get the hearts in my eyes after my first run. I don’t care what my feet look like if I can run with an extra 60+ lbs on my body and not be in pain. My knees are happy. My ankles are happy. My heart is getting happy. All of this makes my brain happy.

Alright. That’s all I have to say about that. I hope that if anybody reads this and tries any of the things I’ve listed above, that you have as good of luck with them as I did. Oh and please be aware, I don’t represent any of these companies, I’m not getting paid to promote their products. I just like their products and am providing them to you to check out.