Category — Gear

Today I went to buy new running shoes at the urging of my trainer. She said the minor problems I was having when running would be eliminated with the proper shoes.I trust her advice and decided I should invest in a pair of good running shoes.

I hopped on google to find stores geared toward runners in the Memphis area. There are several throughout Memphis but I decided on Fleet Feet Sports in East Memphis. I chose the store because I knew how to get to it and because they had a website. I adore any place with a website (and a blog too).

On the drive to the store I almost talked myself out of going. I worried about what to say, whether or not they would laugh me out of the store, even whether my feet smelled. By the time I got there I had conquered most of the concerns and told myself since I drove there I should go in and see what happened.

After a few awkward seconds of standing around waiting for someone to notice me a sales guy approached me and asked what I was looking for.

I had no idea.

I told him I just started running and needed new shoes. He went through the process of measuring my feet and asking questions about my training. I tried on 5 different pairs of shoes and jogged down the sidewalk in front of the store in each one. The sales guy watched me run and told me which looked like it was giving me the correct support. It was a little intimidating running in front of a “running specialist” but I am glad I did it because I ended up with the correct pair of shoes… something completely different from what I thought I needed.

My last pair of running shoes was a size 8 women’s pair of new balance running shoes. My new shoes: Size 7 Wide MENS Brooks running shoes. Does anyone notice a difference here?

Even though they are men’s running shoes, I still think they look pretty good:

Nice, right? Back to the original point… I was buying shoes two sizes too big for my feet to compensate for the extra width of my feet. Wrong, wrong, WRONG! It it important to get shoes that fit the width and length of your feet, because that will completely affect your running. The wrong size shoes were causing me a ton of problems when I was trying to run.

Without going to see a professional I never would have gotten the right shoes. I highly reccoment next time you need new shoes get the proper help. Someone trained to watch runners run will know exactly what kind of shoe will be right for you. It will save you from a ton of problems later on.