Thursday, February 25, 2010

Some new shoes

Confession: I never REALLY got fitted for running shoes. When I first started running I went to one of those bigbox retailers, some teenage boy watched me walk around a bit, told me I was a pronator and gave me a bunch of shoes to try on, and that was about it. I ended up with Saucony Omnis, because they felt the most comfortable, and I've been running with them ever since. Since I've had no real problems or pains, I figured all must be well.

Today I went to a running store in Marin just for some recovery socks, got to talking with the salesperson, and ended up getting properly fitted, gait analysis, running outside in a variety of shoes, talked about how they felt, and ended up buying not one but TWO new pairs of kicks.

I have a very narrow foot and even a narrower heel, and apparently the best shoes for that foot (or at least MY foot) are Asics. Alls I know is they immediately felt wonderful, like I was wearing nothing, or at least like the shoe was made of air. Since my arches are almost nonexistent, I also tried out some Arch Molds, and these just heightened the comfort.

So I walked out $300 poorer, but with a pair of Asics Evolutions for the road (ugly and white -- for now) and a pair of Trabucos for the trail (awesome and pink and black, which I decides a few weeks ago were going to be my "race colors", so was a happy coincidence), the arch supports AND the recovery socks. A good day for the salesperson (way to upsell, lady) and hopefully a good change for me. Bye bye Sauconys, which I never really knew how to pronounce anyhow.

Of course, I did all this when I was supposed to be actually RUNNING but I am just plum tuckered out. I think I might be a little overtrained what with the running skiing yoga that I've been doing at LEAST one of just about every day for the past week or two. I feel fine, but just have no reserve. Tom says it seems like my suitcase full of courage has turned into a suitcase full of porridge (any Phil Liggett (sp?) fans out there?).

So I went shopping instead. Now, to bed, work tonight, and will try for my long run either in the morning or tomorrow afternoon. All this new gear should make it a snap, right??

4 comments:

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

I'm guilty of the same thing. I went to that bigbox retailer, too, and bought the only fairly comfortable pair they had--Nike Air Pegasus. I've got almost 300 miles on them now, and I've decided when I get some new ones (which will be very soon), I'm making the two-hour trek to an actual running store in Nashville to get the proper analysis like you did. If I'm gonna be serious about this, I guess I'm gonna have to come off some $$$ and do it right.

Lisa said...

I have Asics and LOVE them. So very light and cushy. Shopping for running stuff = FUN :)

MissBrightside said...

I'm not a runner, but I like to buy shoes and outfits that make me feel like I am...so I bought a pair of running shoes because they are the ones that SkinnyRunner wears..I'm a pure wannabe poser!
I am curious to know what shoes you wear at work...Birkenstocks? running shoes?

Formulaic said...

New shoes make you faster! It's been scientifically proven.

Or at least that is what I tell myself everytime I buy a new pair of shoes.

Two new pairs? Nice! Now you'll be unstoppable (once you get started!)