I love the feeling of my bare feet when they sink ever-so-slightly into heavy wet sand at the shoreline of the ocean.

You know how you feel like your feet are fully supported exactly where they’re at?

You feel so firmly grounded that the rest of your body stacks solidly on top of that wonderfully rooted foundation.

Kind of like having a really good friend who accepts you just how you are…quirks and all.

Yesterday, I was reminded of that warm happy-beach feeling as I stood on the FootBalance machine in the Salomon West Vancouver store. Manager, Scott Winston, directed me as to where to place my bare feet on the imaging glass, and, in less than ten-minutes, I was inserting brand new custom insoles in to my shoes.

I’ve been wearing orthotics for years, but our recent hike in Wales pretty much destroyed what was left of my best pair. They’ve been held together by manky medical tape and have weird dips and rips ever since; not very attractive and I’m not so sure that they’re doing much good any more.

But I’ve been putting off going back to my podiatrist because I know the bill will be over $300.00 for a new pair.

Well. You can imagine how my frugal Mennonite heart burst into hymns of praise when I received an email asking me to please do a review on these custom foot beds. Well…Hello! Count me in. And Amen.

And yes, even though they’re free to me, I am telling you the truth here…they feel pretty darned good.

Would my podiatrist approve? I’m guessing not. His orthotics are designed to correct my feet, whereas these are meant to support my feet.

If we are still going with that aforementioned metaphor of a friend…I prefer these. The corrective orthotics were pretty hard and unforgiving. I prefer the support. As they’re also priced at $80.00/pair, they make me happy on a whole other level (see above reference to frugality).

These Footbalance inserts are much cushier than my old insoles, and sitting here on my sofa at the end of this fabulous Friday, my feet are feeling pretty fine. The real test will be a good hike. Not a Welsh 300-kilometer hike, but striding along a dirt trail will be a good test (and I’ll be doing exactly that next week when I’m up on the Sunshine Coast).

Meanwhile, my only criticism is that when I take off my shoes, the inserts look tres sportif with my shoe size emblazoned in white (does the 42 have to be written quite that large??) along with the big white letters of Footbalance.

I know branding is king, but I’d prefer a discreet basic black insert so that when I slip off my shoes, it looks a little less athletic. Probably most people will be using these in runners or hiking boots, so it wouldn’t matter…it’s not much of a complaint, because when the shoes are on my feet…I feel like I’m walking on clouds.