When I was a kid I wanted a pair of sneakers that would help me jump higher. That’s how salesmen used to market shoes back then. They’d imply some tennis shoe would rocket a 6 year old into slam dunking a basketball on a regulation goal.

Back then, there were maybe two pair worthy of such a cause. Chuck Taylor Converse and Adidas. Neither of which could my family afford. But they did pick me up some K-mart specials and I was convinced they’d help me jump higher.

In the back yard I jumped, and jumped waiting for the magic spring like rubber to activate and send me to the roof of the garage. Sigh.. that of course never happened.

Today, I have no desire to jump higher. My days of trying to slam dunk a basketball are probably behind me – at least until my son challenges me to some one on one.

My main desire in a shoe today is a decrease of pain. As I’ve said in the past, I can put up with a goodly amount of pain. But it occurred to me the other day, there’s no good reason for me to put up with something as dumb as an uncomfortable pair of Doc Maartens.

So in browsing the shoe store I saw a lot of brand names I didn’t recognize. Has it really been that long since I shopped for shoes??? Was there a shoe revolution where all the old names were conquered and were now occupied by the names of Ecco, Steve Harvey, and Havana Joe? Nowhere were Doc Martins or Birkenstocks to be found.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a sign for Finn Comfort touted as the most comfortable shoes in the store. Every salesman there had a pair on. I picked up a Finn loafer. It appeared to have a similar footbed as Birkenstock sandals, but in a dress or casual shoe. Hmm.. we may be onto something.

The brochures were intriguing about how the insoles both exercise and relax the foot. The arch support supports the foot’s “4 arches”. Hey, that’s probably part of my problem, because I thought I only had 1 arch! The other three were being neglected.

There was talk around the store of the shoes stop backand knee pain and helping to correct posture.

The gears in my crafty mind started to turn. But not to make a snap decision, I decided to do some research. They were, after all, 3 times the price of a pair of Birkenstocks. I needed a second opinion.

Nobody I asked had heard of them, even though they’ve been around since 1945. Reviews on the Internet were sparse. I even brought up the subject with some trendy friends who have a $30,000 Aga stove in their house. Nada. Seems a shame the company has been making shoes for over 50 years and nobody has bothered to try a pair.

So I decided to give them a shot and post about my experience, good or bad.

I went in and talked to the salesman. Apparently, getting a pair of these shoes is a big deal. They measured my foot (I kid you not) 5 times. Two different people. The boss came out and looked at my Docs, mentioned his degree in podietry and grabbed up a pair of the Finn Comfort Dijon which weren’t the style I originally went in for.

But he made a good argument based on the front of my foot being too wide compared to the length. “These are the model designed for your exact shape of foot.” He said. Apparently, my foot shape implies I’ve descended from waterfowl of the duck or goose species – that or a mushroom strain in the family of the portobello. But I digress…

I tried them on. The first feeling was much different than any other pair of shoe I’ve tried. It felt like there were what I’d describe as massage lumps in odd parts of the shoe. They felt fine and I had plenty of toe room. He warned me not to wear them more than 4 hours per day for the first 3 to 4 days. “They will drastically realign your foot muscles compared to your old shoes. So take it easy. Then you’ll never want another pair of shoes – ever.”

“Yeah right,” I thought.

So this being day 1 I’ll explain the feeling. The most notable feeling was those “lumps” that seemed to pop up in the middle of the pad under the forefoot. It probably sounds bad, but it felt like it needed to be there. There was also more of a change to the arch than I’m used to. It felt as though it was stretching the foot as one might before running a marathon. Other than those two differences, the shoes felt good for 2-3 hours.

He was right – at least about the 4 hour time limit. Four hours was about as long as I could wear them today. They were very comfortable until 2-3 hours in. Then, the muscles in my lower legs started aching. What’s that all about?

After taking them off, I didn’t notice much difference from my normal taking shoes off. So will it help with some of the pain I have from foot muscles aching? I sure hope so.

Check in tomorrow and I’ll post what day two is like with these new Finn Comforts. Do they get more comfortable as the week goes on? What happened to those other three arches? Will I now be able to slam dunk a basketball?

At the end of this, we’ll know if these shoes are the shoes of champions or are destined for my yard work bin…