The New Pair
At the beginning of June I felt that I was ready for a new challenge. I set a goal of completing 100km (62mi) by the end of the month. The runs were mostly at the Washington and Old Dominon trail, an amazing trail located 5 minutes away north of my residence. I decided to switch units on Nike+ Running from miles to kilometers for mainly one reason: it made more sense. Most major running distances are measured in kilometers (5K, 10K and so on) and thus I set the monthly goal in that unit.
I also had another task to completed during June as I wanted to finally retire my Nike Flywire and look for a new pair. The searching journey began online by reading blog reviews as well as shoe ratings of different websites. I like change in general. However, I have had those Nikes long enough to not want to switch to a different brand, hence I limited my options to Nikes (Step 1). Next, I began listing down any issues that I may have had with the Flywires and how I may improve the running experience. Generally, running shoes are capable of providing support if needed and that raised the question of whether my feet and legs needed any kind of support (Step 2). In the middle of my search, I came across Nike Free 5.0 which had an almost-perfect score on every trusted website.
A conversation I had with a co-worker who is passionate about running brought up important points about shoe fitting. Have you done shoe fitting in the past? My co-worker asked. Prior to that, I was not aware that show fitting stores exist, as I did not think I needed any help picking up my own running shoes. But then I thought that an expert's advice would not hurt. I found a running specialty store located 15 minute drive from my house and on a Sunday afternoon went to find my shoes.
The running expert at Runner's World took me into a set of demos that included electric feet scanner and camera-supported treadmill that provide a full report on how my feet function while running. Two points were very interesting and caught my attention: a) Feet do not necessarily put the pressure on the same spot. For example, the pressure may be on the front part of one feet and the back part of the other. This could lead into foot aches and therefore may increase the chance of injuries. b) Feet width is important. I have never taken feet width into consideration whether while purchasing sport shoes or casual shoes.
The expert then, and based on the report results by the demo, suggested shoes that would provide more support during the run as I seemed to need them. That knocked out the option of the shoes I initially liked (Nike Free 5.0) as they are classified as flat. After trying out a number of shoes, I ended up purchasing Nike Structure.
