The Best Running Shoes for Women with Wide Feet – Supportive, Lightweight, Flexible, and Durable!

running-shoes-for-women-with-wide-feet

Are you having a hard time finding a pair of running shoes to fit the shape of your wide feet? Finding a pair of wide running shoes can be a quite time-consuming experience if you don’t know what shoe styles or what shoe brands to look for. The good news is that I will help you find the right running shoes for women with wide feet, so you can enjoy your run and keep your feet and legs healthy at the same time.

Finding the perfect pair of wide running shoes for your feet takes more than just choosing a shoe style that is labeled as wide (“W”). The shoes must also be deep to allow your feet to fit comfortably inside the shoes. A pair of deep shoes will also prevent the top part of your feet from rubbing against the top part of the shoes. The issue is that shoes don’t come labeled as “deep”, which makes these shoes really hard to find.

My Role in Fitting Women’s Shoes – Over a Decade of Shoe Fitting Experience

Over the years I have become familiar with the best running shoes for women with wide feet. To get you into perspective, you should know that when walking, a woman impacts the ground two times her body’s weight, but when you are running or exercising that impact increases to three times your body’s weight.

Did you know that impact is one of the main causes of foot, leg and back pain? That is why shoes play such a crucial role in protecting and supporting your feet.

If you feel that you have tried different running shoe styles in wide widths that are also deep and the shoes still feel too tight, then you should ask yourself if you really know your exact shoe size and width.

The most effective way to tell if the shoes that you are wearing are too narrow is to check if your small toe (pinky toe) is being pressed against the side of the shoes. Put your shoes on and check if you notice a small bump poking out of the shoes. Take a look at the image below that shows a woman wearing a pair of shoes that are too narrow:

how-to-check-if-shoes-are-too-narrow

If you notice that your small toe is being pressed against the side of the shoes, then you should try the shoe in a wider width. For example, if you are wearing the shoe in a wide width (“W”), try the same shoe style in an extra wide width (“XW”), and check if there is extra space for your small toe. If the shoe that you are wearing is already an extra wide shoe, then you must try a different shoe style.

Are You Wearing the Right Size Shoe?

One common mistake I see women make is to believe that they have wide feet and in reality, they need extra wide shoes! So, it is really important that you have your feet measured and get your shoes accordingly.

The issue is that most women don’t have a local shoe store that they trust, and they must end up purchasing their shoes online. If this is your case, please take a look at a post I wrote where I describe the most effective and simple way to figure out your actual shoe size:

How To Measure Your Foot Shoe Size – The Most Simple And Effective Way!

Before I show you a selection of the best running shoes for women with wide feet, I want to show you what features a running shoe must provide to keep your feet and legs healthy.

Are you aware that exercise releases endorphins? Doing some running every day or even every other day can definitely boost your overall mood. You can enjoy it every day, by simply starting the habit of including a short run in your routine.

The Right Running Shoes for Women – 5 Important Features!

To fully support and fit the shape of your wide feet, your running shoes must provide the following features:

1️⃣ Rounder Toe-Boxes: The shoes must come with a round toe-box to prevent your toes from overlapping and rubbing against each other or the side of the shoes since this will lead to blisters, calluses, and corns.

women's-shoes-with-round-toe-boxes

2️⃣ Extra Depth: This feature allows your feet to fit deeply inside the shoes and prevent the top of your feet from rubbing against the top of the shoes.

women's-shoes-with-extra-depth

3️⃣ Substantial Outsole: The shoes must provide a substantial sole with arch support to minimize the impact that your feet take every time they come in contact with the ground since you are placing a lot of extra pressure on your feet and the legs.

supportive-shoes-for-women

4️⃣ Firm Heel Counter: The heel counter is the back part of the shoes that provides ankle support. The heel counter of the shoes needs to be firm to provide support to your heels and prevent ankle pain. If you don’t know what the heel counter of the shoes is, take a look at the picture below for clarification:

shoe-with-firm-heel-counter

5️⃣ Wide Widths Available: The shoes must come labeled as wide widths (“W”). Don’t settle for shoes that “fit wider” than others, and always make sure that the shoes are labeled as wide.

If we find a running shoe style that provides all of these features, then you will be good to go!

The Best Running Shoe Brands for Wide Feet – Let’s Find Out!

I can assure you the New Balance has one of the best lines of running shoes for women with wide feet. They make the deepest shoes that also come with the roundest toe-boxes, but not all styles will work for your wide feet. Some styles are definitely deeper than others.

I have tried several different shoe brands for women with wide feet, and New Balance is by far the better one. Every time a woman tells me she is having a hard time finding a pair of running shoes for wide feet, I always bring a selection of New Balance shoes to try on.

There are other shoe brands that offer their shoes in wide widths such as Asics, Saucony, or Brooks (just to name a few), but their shoes are not nearly as wide as the New Balance ones.

The Best Running Shoes for Women with Wide Feet – Supportive, Lightweight, Flexible, and Durable!

Below you can find a selection of the best running shoes for women with wide feet. Make sure that you choose the wide (W) or the extra wide (XW) width. Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links and we may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click our links and make purchases. This allows us to create free content and resources for many families around the world. 

Bear in mind that shoes can run short, long, narrow, or wide, and depending on how they run you will need to adjust the size that you get.

For example, you always want to wear half a size longer of the size that they measure in the standard foot measuring scale (Brannock device) to prevent your toes from rubbing against the front or the side of the shoes.

However, if you measure a foot size 10 and the shoes fit “short”, then you will need to choose the shoe size 11 to allow enough wiggle room (a whole size longer instead of half a size longer). On the other hand, if the shoes fit “long” then you will need to pick the same shoe size instead of going half a size longer (since the shoes already fit long).

What Shoe Size Should You Order?

Take a look at the description below the shoes that I recommended to find out what shoe size you should order.

On a different note, if you happen to have a child with wide or extra wide feet that needs a pair of good supportive shoes, you should take a look at a website I created where I describe the best fitting children’s shoes. Kindly click on the link below.

Fitting Children’s Shoes – The Best Place to Find Shoes that Fit for Any Foot Problems

How to Lace Shoes for Women with Wide Feet – Try this Method!

1️⃣ First Step:

Start by lacing each end of the lace over one of the eyelets closest to your toes as shown in the picture below.

Lacing Shoes For Wide Feet

2️⃣ Second Step:

Keep the lace ends on the same side and enter each end under the next eyelet down.

Lacing Shoes For Wide Feet

3️⃣ Third Step:

Enter each end over the next eyelet down and zig-zag the laces as normal to finish tying the shoe.

Lacing Shoes For Wide Feet

This shoe tying technique will take away the pressure from the widest part of your feet.

Thank you for reading! We hope you found helpful this post on the best running shoes for women with wide feet. Please feel free to share this post with your community on social media as well as your experiences in the comments section below. If you have any questions or need any further assistance, you can also contact us via e-mail and we will get back to you as soon as possible. 

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2 Comments

  1. I got my wife a pair of the New Balance shoes recommended and she loves them. She used to ran in Asics that told me had wide widths but they kept pinching her toes. She really loved the shoes so wanted to stop by to say thanks. I told her to check your website next times she needs new shoes.

    • Hello Paolo,

      That sounds great! Asics shoes provide great support and are great for running, but even their wider versions tend to be too narrow.

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