farfromfearless
SealSkinz Waterproof Running Socks - Do They Really Work?
As I’ve mentioned once or twice in this blog, my return to England from the fairly extreme hot weather in Mississippi has been greeted with, for the most part, temperatures in the low 60s that are accompanied by fairly strong winds. It hasn’t rained of yet, thankfully, but that can’t be too far away. This is England, after all.
So, my thoughts are turning towards cold and wet-weather gear. I’m fairly new to this sort of stuff and have been doing a bit of research on the Internets this past week seeing exactly what options are open to me.
One thing that I hadn’t really thought too much about until earlier today was my feet. I’ve been extremely lucky with blisters so far - really, I haven’t had any, and anything that looked like it might be a potential blister (i.e., the dreaded ‘hot spots’) seemed to take care of itself overnight. My feet have really been in pretty amazing shape throughout, which is remarkable now we’re almost 100 miles in.
However, once the rains begin to fall my feet are going to get wet - all the time. Wet feet are the main cause of blistering, and blisters are something I really need to avoid if I’m going to get all of this done. In a long run - 15, 20 miles, or more - running with wet feet in continuous rain could be a total disaster. So, my thoughts are turning towards specialist gear.
Enter SealSkinz. SealSkinz are - so the blurb says - the world’s only range of waterproof, breathable, close-fitting socks and gloves. My hands I’m not so worried about (I think), but these bad boys seem exactly what the doctor will inevitably have suggested I ordered for my feet. Ian Adamson swears by them, which should be good enough for anybody. My problem is I’m a natural sceptic, certainly when it comes to gear.
The problem is the price - one pair of SealSkinz running socks retails at £17.19 (about $35 - I’m sure they’re cheaper in the USA). I mean, if they work - and I mean really work - that’s a small price to pay. One serious blister could mean game over for me, or at least many days of agony.
However, if they don’t work - if it’s all hype - that’s a fair bit of expense. I’ll probably need two pairs, after all. I wash my running gear every day but you can’t rely on that, and the last thing you want to do to prevent blisters is to put yesterday’s smelly, old and sweat-soaked socks back on!
So… I’m interested if anyone has used SealSkinz before, their experiences with them and really if they are any better than the Nike Dri Fit socks I’m using right now. The Dri Fits have been fantastic, but they’re not made specifically to keep out water, while the SealSkinz are. That may well be the difference, but I need to know for sure. 
4 people have left comments
Spartan7 said:
I have not used the running sock, but I have used the military Sealskinz sock. I found them useful for training in which I thought I would be getting my feet wet.
As far as being able to use them specifically for wet weather, I would believe they would probably work. As for the applications that I put mine through, the results were mixed, but I did not have the advantage of putting on an taking off socks at my leisure.
I don’t remember ever blisters with them and I still keep a pair handy to pack with me in case I run into the need to ford stream (or canals in Iraq.)
Like you, I have been very fortunate that I have not gotten any serious blisters or hot spots in my months of “real” training.
Shéamus said:
I think they’re going to be an essential purchase. It’s raining continously in the UK at the moment and as we’ve had such a lousy summer I can only imagine this is how it’s going to be until about next July.
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