How Not to Buy Running Shoes

We stood wide-eyed in front of an ocean of running shoes lined up on the shelves before us. Red ones, blue ones, stability this, stability that, Nimbus, Glide, Wave, Precision; they all sounded very fast. The choices were overwhelming. As my wife and I roamed the isles at our local shoe superstore we quickly became disoriented by the volume of choices and the task before us.

We had never purchased running shoes and to our novice eye they all looked pretty much the same. Naturally we gravitate towards those we thought looked cool. I didn't know much about it at the time, but even back then I was pretty sure that a selection criteria based mostly on which company carried your favorite colors probably wasn't the correct way to pick running shoes. I laughed at myself realizing that in all my years I had never purchased a pair of running shoes with the intent of actually running in them. This was truly a new experience.

Drunk on the smell of chemicals and rubber, we staggered up and down rows of shoes. It was at that point I started wondering if it was possible we simply weren't smart enough to be runners. In a moment of panic I worried if we weren't bright enough to get past the 'buy a pair of shoes' stage, we surely will have problems with buying shorts, shirts or maybe even finding our way home after our first run! Should we be lo-jacked just in case? And what about those gadgets I see runners wearing in my neighborhood? What is that strap around their chest? Why are they wearing gigantic watches? This is not what I had signed up for. I tried to snap out of it. What am I thinking? This can't be that complicated. Putting fears aside, we pressed on looking for our first ever pair of running shoes.

This whole thing started when, in a moment of weakness driven by the excitement of being fans for friends and family during the Disney Marathon, my wife and I signed up for the following year's Disney half-marathon. At the time it all seemed easy enough. Find some shoes, dig out an old pair of shorts, run a few times a week and show up on race day. Easy enough we thought. However, I began to worry that if the shoe selection process was any indication of how badly I had misjudged this running thing then things were likely to get much worse.

Back in the store we eventually found shoes that meet our budgets and our fashion guidelines. Mine, a handsome pair of stability control Asics with blue piping on a white mesh body. Her choice was a pretty pair of Asics with pink on white with a hint of grey on the trim. Even though I had never run a mile in my life, standing in the store in my new running shoes made me feel like a real runner. I felt my chest grow and my spine straighten the moment I tied the second knot. After all, I was now a runner. Well technically I was not yet a runner, but I did own a cool pair of running shoes and that was a start.

Read more on... How Not to Buy Running Shoes

Author: David W Meier