The quest for a blister-free existence. Part 2: The perfect sock.

If you've read Part 1, you know the horrors my feet experienced at the hands of REI socks and liners. There is a light at the end of this tunnel (though harder to find when REI stops carrying a product).

I bought my Dahlgren Alpaca Light Hiking Socks on clearance for $4, which is almost miraculous since they retail for closer to $20. This was around the time I discovered a new love: running.

The decision to train for a half marathon was very spur of the moment for me. I hadn't run in about 4-5 years, and I had no desire to start doing so anytime soon. However, my friends were going to Nashville to run a half marathon. I had never been to Nashville, and wanted to go. I was going to be their cheerleader. Then, one random Wednesday in January 2008, it occurred to me: I could actually run the half! What a novel concept! I ran 1.5 miles in my first attempt, and by the end of the week I was running 5, the equivalent of the longest I had ever run. I am now training for my second marathon and have never looked back.

What on earth does all this have to do with hiking socks? Well, I was blistering on my long runs while training for the half, until I started to wear the Dahlgren socks. They became the only thing I would wear on a run of over 7 miles. I wore them in all my Half Marathons and 10ks until I discovered the wonderful technical socks they sell at race expos (hell, I just didn't do laundry often enough to keep wearing my one pair of Dahlgren socks every time I did a 7+ run once I was training for a full marathon in the fall). Once I had found suitable running socks, the Dahlgrens became my perfect hiking sock.

I have purchased several pairs of hiking socks since then. I get them in kids' sizes now, since REI doesn't sell adult socks small enough to be tight on my feet in-store. (Note: Even if you are not someone who can successfully wear smaller boots to prevent blistering because your feet swell when you hike long distances, I still stand vehemently behind my position on wearing tight socks. The less your socks rub, the less you will blister.) I have not found this perfection with any other sock, and am devastated if I forget to wash my single pair of Dahlgrens before a trip. I say single pair because these exact socks are almost impossible to find in a XS/S.

The moral of this story is not only to buy these magnificent socks if you see them, but to tell me where they are selling! I just can't find anything else that quite compares. These socks are an A+.