angry foot

In December, my wonderful husband bought me my first proper pair of tri shoes and cleats. I made the switch from the little spd cleats/pedals to the big road pedals. I was very excited about this.

Since January I have been struggling with an intermittent pain in my right foot. I thought it was from running too many miles on one pair of kinvaras. I thought it might be building back my mileage. I thought it might be that I had messed up my saddle position (fore-aft) when a screw came loose and then I fixed it but hadn't remembered exactly what the measurement was.

I didn't want it to be the shoes. About a week ago I looked at the cleats themselves and realized the two shoes were not exactly aligned, so I made a small adjustment to the problematic foot's shoe. I didn't have excruciating pain after my 3 hour ride last week, but my foot was still numb (just in a slightly different location).

Then I took my bike it for a tuneup. It is a recovery week for me this week. So I didn't ride Monday through Thursday. I didn't really notice until yesterday afternoon, but my foot was better all week. Then yesterday afternoon the familiar spot started barking (after an easy 90 min ride).

I think its time to admit that its the shoes. I bought them too small. I think they are squashing my foot. Or maybe these big Look shaped cleats aren't good for me. I don't know. I'm not sure what to do. I can't return the shoes. How do I know if I buy another pair (which I don't really have the money for) that they will be better? 

What shoes have YOU had success with? If this were you would you keep playing with cleat position or jump ship?