I finally got over to the running store on the other side of the park from my office. It was worth holding out for: the guy took my foot measurements, asked how many miles I’m running per week, whether I’m training for anything specific, and a few other questions, and produced a pair of Saucony shoes that felt like heaven. He took me outside to watch me run a bit in them, made a few other suggestions — another Saucony model and a New Balance — and they were good, too, but nowhere near as comfortable as the first pair.
It’s just staggering how many different running shoe models are out there, how much information there is to know about them (overpronator, underpronator, or neutral? which models are built for which foot shape? extra cushioned or extra lightweight? and on and on). I’ve been doing tons of research, and feeling completely overwhelmed. This guy was able to assess my foot physiology, my training needs, and my comfort preferences in one shot and find me just the right shoe. Wow.
I’m $90 lighter, but I have a kickass pair of Sauconys that I can’t wait to break in tomorrow morning. And much less chance of injuring my knees than if I’d continued to run in my ten-year-old, beat-up Nikes. And I hereby resolve to replace my running shoes every few hundred miles from now on, just like the experts recommend. I’m sure spending just shy of $100 every six months or so will turn out to be cheaper than paying the medical deductibles on knee surgery or something similar. Running is awfully inexpensive in every other way, after all.
Yay for new shoes!
Yay for good running shoes! $90 is a small price to pay for preserving your joints.
Keep an eye out for sales. Do you have a gym membership? See if it gets you discounts at running shops–I get discounts at the local new balance store and at the running shoe shop (ragged mountain running). That said, it’s still cheaper for me to find the shoe I like at NB and then go over to RackRoom shoes and see if they have it in my size and width. 😉
Good shoes are wonderful – I finally got a good SAS fitting and I’m not a 10.5 or 11 – I’m a 9.5 very very wide.
Sales would be good, that’s true. I don’t have a gym membership because there’s a gym at my office, but we may get an employee discount somewhere. I’ll ask around. Thanks for the suggestions!
What’s SAS?
Indeed! I feel a lot worse about, for example, having to ice my knees a lot when the weather is turning so cold than I do about spending $90. 😉
(Hey web guru – why is your LJ page so hard to read for me – It’s almost like my system dosen’t have the right font so is trying to adjust it – anythign I can do on my end?)
SAS shoes – here is my post from when I got them
http://www.livejournal.com/users/starstraf/91707.html
Eh, it’s probably just not enough contrast between the background and the font color in my settings. I’ll tweak it sometime today. Thanks for the feedback.
Ah – that helped TONS !!! thanks