I’m kicking off 2006 in style, 113.5 miles so far. Figured it was finally time to retire my Y running shoes. A year of torture was enough, hehe. They’re still in pretty good shape visually after about 800 miles; But, the guts are pretty much toast at this point (padding shot, upper in the ankle shot, etc). After finding few options locally at Dick’s and other all sport stores, I broke down and went to Fleet Feet. My reservation about going previously was just the intimidation factor. I run a lot, but still consider myself an amateur and maybe a poseur.
Anywho, as expected my fears were pretty much unfounded. The fine folks at Fleet Feet (and the other customers) were approachable, very nice to talk to, and helpful. The sales guy explained their extensive fitting process and off we went. They start with an accurate measurement of both feet, have you try on a pair of neutral shoes (no corrective support), run a little bit on a treadmill where they video tape your gate. From there, they analyze your running style and make educated suggestions for shoes. I was a little shaky on the treadmill; mainly because I don’t normally run on treadmills, the fact I was running in street clothes (next time I’ll wear some shorts, at least), and the fact there were a bunch of other real runners in the room.
Surprisingly, my previous shoe choice wasn’t that far off what I should be wearing. I was going about half to a whole size too big though. I thought I needed the extra room to accomodate my wide foot, but after a careful measuring, he said that while my feet (actually the right more than the the left) doesn’t really warrant the bigger size. He also said that this might be related to the beating that my toes were taking (flopping around and kicking the inside of the shoe.)
I’ve got a touch of overpronation in my right foot, with the left being pretty flat. Turns out that’s a little tricky to deal with. Its hard to find a shoe that fixes the right without over correcting the left. After the neutral test shoe, he recommend the Asics gt-2210 (which is the 2006 version of the gt-2090 I’ve been wearing.) Felt pretty familiar, but he said it overcorrects a bit on the left. A few more shoes later, we stumbled on the Brooks Dyad 3. At first, we tried a whole size smaller than my current shoes (10 vs. 11) But while 10 was ok in some of the shoes tried on in the interim, in this shoe, it was a little too close for comfort (especially knowing that my feet swell up quite a bit during the work out.) so, I went to 10.5’s.
A few runs out, I’m happy to report that they feel great during the run and that after run effects (bruising/blistering irregular soreness, etc) are at a minimum. I did notice a little soreness on the outside of my left calf (which might be related to the overcorrection); but it goes away soon after the run.
Only 93 more days until the Moutain Goat…
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