Trail Monster
I have brand new (80 miles) Altra Superiors and I was planning to use them for the middle (trail) miles at BR100 in 2 weeks. I went for a training run on the course on Sunday and it was pure mud with all the storms that have hit PA/OH lately. Standing water mixed with mud and horse shat. Lovely. After the run I walked into the Cuyahoga River shoes and all and rinsed away the worst of it. When I got home I hosed my shoes out and scrubbed the outside with a bristle brush. Then I set them on a drying rack and waited. Now it's 3+ days later, my shoes are still wet (thanks 90% humidity), and they reek like mud and mildew. I set them outside in the sun for a couple hours but then the next line of storms headed our way so they're back in the garage for now.
Can my shoes be saved? I was planning to buy another pair to have as a back up if the course is as muddy and nasty on race day. But buying two new pairs is pricey and not part of my budget. I really don't want to throw away perfectly good shoes if I don't have to!
2013 races:
3/17 Shamrock Marathon
4/20 North Coast 24 Hour
7/27 Burning RIver 100M
8/24 Baker 50M
10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)
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under a rock
I always take the insoles out and stuff old news paper into my shoes to help dry them out. Your shoes will dry much faster. I have a pile of balled up news paper in my garage from doing this.
running under the BigSky
I've used the same boot (shoe) drier since my logging days (30 years ago ), made by PEET- they dry shoes w/ very low heat, but they almost always dry by morning, they still make them (don't look like they've changed them either)
2023 goal 2023 miles √
2022 goal- 2022 miles √
2021 goal- 2021 miles √
My daughter's cross- country coach told the runners to put their shoes in the dishwasher with a little soap and run them thru the cycle. Never tried it but who knows. I would just hose mine off and put them in the sun on the back deck for a couple days with the insoles removed. Always had enough other pairs in circulation so however long it took to dry was fine, Sometimes they would get an extra wash if it rained.
+1.
newspaper works wonders.
Trail and Ultra Running User Group
Le professeur de trail
I don't think I would do the dishwasher thing but using soft soap and scrubbing the outside, (take insole out), rinse with warm water, spray with lysol, and NEWSPAPER does work wonders. Ball it up, fill the entire shoe, change after 10 minutes, possibly change again after 60 minutes but this is not usually necessary. They will be dry by the next day.
I don't think the newspaper has to be old. Any newspaper does the trick.
My favorite day of the week is RUNday
I don't think I would do the dishwasher thing but using soft soap and scrubbing the outside, (take insole out), rinse with warm water, spray with lysol, and NEWSPAPER does work wonders. Ball it up, fill the entire shoe, change after 10 minutes, possibly change again after 60 minutes but this is not usually necessary. They will be dry by the next day. I don't think the newspaper has to be old. Any newspaper does the trick.
What if you get your paper online?? No really , I got it - I'm not that dumb. Print it out and wad up I suppose ...
Ultra Cowboy
WYBMADIITY
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Refurbished Hip
Well, some of what's written on madison.com IS garbage...
Running is dumb.
Need to find what I did with the sarcasm button!
All my news is on CBS sportsline, Sports Illustrated. com etc. We do have a draft coming up late next month don'tcha know!
I guess I derailed this thread pretty well, huh?
Sarcasm noted....and understood...and appreciated...
But back to the subject at hand, the Peet boot dryer is a quality piece of equipment.
sugnim
My advice is don't sniff your shoes. If you must sniff your shoes, do so from a long distance.
Otherwise, I also remove the insoles & stuff the shoes with newspaper whenever they get wet. It seems to do the trick. If my shoes were in your shoes' current state, I might even take the insoles out and wash them by hand with a little laundry soap & cold water before doing the newspaper thing. I might even sprinkle in a little bit of my homemade foot powder which is just a mixture of corn starch, baking soda, and a tiny bit of peppermint bath salts.
Faster Than Your Couch!
When my cat used my shoes as a porter-potty, I hosed them out, then soaked them in Oxi-clean for two days (insoles taken out and soaked separately), then washed them in the washing-machine (handwash-cycle, including a gentle spin), then hosed them out to remove any leftover detergents.
When they are wet, I stuff them with cotton rags or newspaper, change this after 10 minutes, perhaps again after an hour, remove the rags/paper after another 2 hours, then dry them, preferably in the sun.
Works every time, shoes come out looking like new.
Run for fun.
Eat to run, Run to eat
Umm.. I just clap them together to remove the big chunks, pull out the insoles halfway and let 'em dry in the basket with all my other running shoes, mud and all. I don't wear them in the house, they stay in the entryway.
Or, they go on the car dash board If I ran before work, and they dry nicely. My car hardly smells at all by the time I get home after driving with the windows open.
But the first few minutes in a hot car filled with shoe funk is indescribable.
Stone Mill 50m 11/16/13 12:42
Febapple Frozen 50k 2/22/14 9:20:55
DIrty German 50m 5/18/14 12:06:16
Good advice except you can smell these guys when you open the basement door. They have been hosed out, they have been scrubbed, insoles and rock plate are dry and sitting alone but the damned shoes just won't dry and the smell is incredible! I'm going to hose them again and stuff them with newspawith and dryer sheeIs since there is no sun here. We are literally in a state of emergency and half the roads in my area are either closed or completely gone. The rain and flooding has been record setting.