Guide Me Down the Highway

Today, I made another visit to my favorite running store, Potomac River Running in Rockville.  You heard about Joe here, last May.  Chris is also awesome.  Anyway, the princess and the pea of running shoes is back.  Running shoe companies don't know when to leave well enough alone.  Saucony redesigned my favorite running shoe and made it narrower in the toe.  Really?  Did they think their size 7.5s were going to thank them for that?  Anyway, I digress.  I ended up having to buy an 8 wide, after careful consultation with Chris about whether to switch shoe companies and styles.  I've been running in the shoes for two months and doing pretty well.  Until, that is, I increased my mileage.  Suddenly, toward the end of long runs, my toe would tingle and become numb and my knee would lock.  Are you kidding me?  Two weeks before the Princess Half Marathon?  I went back to see Chris for help.  We discussed whether it could be the shoe.  Could my foot be sliding inside?  We discussed my stride.  Could I be getting tired toward the end of the run and changing how I run? We thought a bit more, and then Chris said that maybe my foot was swelling after 9 or 10 miles and becoming cramped inside the shoe, which was then too small for my foot.  That would explain the tingling toe and the change in my stride.  We decided to try a different sock.  Yes, you heard me:  after half an hour in the store and of Chris's time, I bought I pair of socks.  A different sock, one that is thinner but with more support.  That way, I have room in the shoe for my foot to swell without jamming my toe, and my arches get a little TLC as well.  It's a plan and it's what I needed.
What I love about Joe and Chris is that they're not just selling me a shoe, or socks or running clothes.  They really care that I enjoy my running, and they work with me as a team to make that happen.  I feel supported and that my concerns are heard when I visit them at the store.  I'm hopeful that we can find a solution to any running problem I might have, and even if we can't, it won't be for lack of effort.  My experience with Chris and Joe is what I hope my clients experience here in the Trenches.  They all have problems that most of them don't understand.  They need to make sense of what is going on in their lives.  They have disconnected facts and need help to make them into a story that makes sense.  They need help solving their problem.  Sure, they need legal expertise and a guide through the legal process, but even more than that, they need someone to care, to listen and to support them as they move through a difficult part of their lives.   It's our job, just like Chris and Joe, to listen to our clients and help them find a solution.  Sometimes the solution is simple, and sometimes it's not.  Sometime's the solution is not what our clients want to hear.  Even then, it can be OK, so long as our clients know that they matter to us and that we are committed to help them.  Good thing that's what we do - Here in the Trenches.