What should you do if your shoes are sopping wet?

Sometimes you finish a run out in the rain, or through a particularly muddy or puddle strewn course, or out in the snow. And sometimes, your shoes are completely drenched when you finish that run. What are the best ways for you to dry your shoes quickly and efficiently? You already know that you should never put your shoes in front of a window or a heater. There are two effective ways to dry your shoes quickly that will not hurt them.

The first thing that you can do, and the most effective, is to put your shoes in front of a fan. This will make sure that you have dry air constantly moving past your shoes, which will help the moisture trapped in your shoes evaporate and be carried away from the shoes by the air your fan is moving. This is the safest way to dry your shoes, and is actually better for them than just placing them on a rack and allowing them to dry on their own. Under most circumstances, however, this just is not necessary or worth the bother.

The second thing that you can do is to wad up some newspaper and stuff the toes of your shoes with them. In general, this will not hurt your shoes at all, but I will rarely do this anyway. The ink can seep off of the newspaper page and stain the inside of your shoes if you leave it in there for too long. I do not know if this is harmful to the shoes or not, but I always go on the assumption that it could be. Sometimes, however, I know that I will need to use a pair of shoes the next day and will want to make sure that they are dry. Stuffing the shoes with newspaper can speed the process up by absorbing the moisture from the shoe and into the paper. Just be sure that you remove or replace the newspaper quickly and regularly.