My New Shoes and How I Got Them

Today, I went to The Runner‘s Warehouse in San Luis Obispo. They are owned by the same entity that owns Art's Cycelery. I've always liked Art's, and when I went into the Runner's Warehouse a couple weeks ago, the place reeked of competence and experience, so I went back and bought these.

They are Asics Foundation 9's, and I love them.

The Runner's Warehouse experience was a weird and cool one. I brought my old running shoes with me, and the clerk, a very fit fellow named Ashley, examined them. He put me in a pair of tester shoes with no arch support and had me run on a treadmill for about 15 seconds while the nearby iMac and video camera recorded my feet hitting the ground. I deeply regret not asking to have those files emailed to me.

Anyway, we examined my gait, and I tried on three pairs of recommended shoes. I ran in the pair that felt best, and my stride looked far better.

But then I asked if I could try some shoes in the next support class up. It was these Asics, and they felt stunning. So so good. And running in them gave me as much of a gait improvement as there was between no support and that first pair of shoes I mentioned.

So as of this posting, I have not run in them yet. The weather's been horrendous, so I just haven't gotten there. But this evening, I will run for 20 minutes or so, and I'll post again. It looks like my marathon training has really begun.