OK, so I got these new sneaks--black and white with a small platform sole. They're long and narrow, kinda neat-looking (think Converse) plus they were on sale and were in an open box without even any of that tissue paper you see in there sometimes.
OK so I put them on and the left one felt kind of "off"--like it needed to be broken in a little more than the right one. I figured I'd do just that by going to a store that was a bit more distant than typical. By the time I headed back, I wasn't in any pain but it really started to feel funny and flat-out uncomfortable and I was almost limping when I got back to my apt.
I thought i'd widen the toe box a bit and when reaching in there, there was this big blockage, like the sole had developed a large obstructive lump in there. I was able to grab it and pull it out. Turns out I'd walked about 2 miles with this in the shoe--lol.
What a relief--in more ways than one.