two little questions for my helpful thru-hiker veterans:

1) did your feet grow during your hike?

2) i'm told to size up (some folks recommend by more than 1 full shoe size). i wanna avoid blisters, and don't wanna slide around, so... what would YOU do?

i should mention that i'm 46 yrs old, and, for the last 3 years or so, i've hiked/ran almost every day on mountain trails, but the mileage is relatively low (usually about 5 miles). i've used primarily minimal shoes, but have recently switched to altra lone peak 2.5s in prep for a thru-hike. i think my foot has expanded already by at least a half size in the last few years because of the minimal shoes and the wide foot-bed of the altras.