Fortunately for me Brian is responsive, supportive and willing to read spam from wanna-be marathoners. He sent me three informative documents and the following comment:

“Your best bet is always to bring in your old shoes to a “real” running store where they can evaluate your foot strike style and point you to the right category of shoe.  As for socks.  Anything that is not made out of cotton will work.  If you have problems with blisters – you may want to consider “dual ply socks” which reduce friction.”

The three articles he provided were about running shoes, the wet-foot test and finding the right running shoes. These articles are long enough that they deserve a separate blog post to cover them. So, we wont cover those today but in the very near future.

I am now on a mission to find socks and a “real” running store.