I'm in Love…
Was it love at first sight? Heck no. He is ugly as sin, loud, and I had never tried him before.
His name is Brooks. Last name Launch. And it was his purple shoelaces that drew me in.
After Kristine and I ran this Sunday (Kristine did the Paramont 5K and I did the Austin Half), we celebrated with a trip to my favorite running shoe store, Rogue. I had not purchased a pair of shoes since last February, and was actually ran the Half in almost two-year-old shoes. To be honest, I don’t know how my feet didn’t end up blistered.
But, that is bad bad bad for your feet and body. If you are a regular runner (or want to be), your shoes need to be changed out every 300-400 miles, or every four months (if you’re running 20-25 miles a week).
For those of you who haven’t done this yet, I highly recommend visiting stores like Rogue here in Austin or Luke’s Locker in Dallas and Houston. Their sales associates are avid runners themselves and can direct you to the right shoe for your foot type.
Because yes, throwing in the dating anaologies — your foot does have a type. I have a neutral foot — which means my foot hits the ground at the lateral part of my heel. So I have an ideal foot for running. (Though my foot over-pronates in the air then goes back to neutral right before it hits the ground… so I guess I like to dabble in other types). If you look at my now worn out shoe, Iwear it out evenly (and I’m sure there is a “That’s What She Said” joke that could be thrown in there too).
Kristine over-pronates. She still lands on the lateral part of her heel, but then the weight gets distributed unevenly throughout her foot and causes her knee to track inwards. Kristine — if she isn’t in the proper shoe — will typically wear her shoe down on the inside part of the shoe. This may also explain why last year she blew out her knee after running the Half. Who knows though — I’m definitely not a doctor.
The final “type” is an under-pronator. I honestly don’t know (or understand) much about this type and how it differs from Kristine and me, so I encourage you to read up on this very helpful Wikipedia page about foot types.
Okay, so those are the different types. And obviously you want to be paired with a shoe that caters to those types. One time, I didn’t do that and bought a shoe on sale at DSW once designed for over-pronators (it was an Asics, which has several offerings for that foot type) and after a week running in the shoe I was in so much pain and had blisters everywhere.
So it is very important to get a gait analysis and someone to look at how you wear down your shoes so you can be placed in the proper shoe. I swear it will make all the difference in the world around how you feel during and after your workout or run.
