Run Away Shoes: Finding the Right Shoe for You

November 2015, I raced in my first half marathon.

Many times in life, we commit to something such as "self projects" because we need to busy our minds. I found myself in August 2015 to be lost, overworked, and needing to focus my attention on anything but the real world. I was given the details for the "Chosen Half Marathon Race" in New Braunfels, TX for the upcoming November. I registered right away and committed myself to three months of brutal training. I didn't know where to start but found Hal Higdon's training plans online, and for FREE! I rarely missed a day and throughout my training, I learned A LOT about shoes, my "run away" from life shoes. Running was just what I needed for ME. It was quite the journey and helped get me through a rough spot in my life.

The 4 pairs on the right in the image above were all shoes I used for my running training. This does not mean everyone needs that many. I had to experiment to find what worked for me. I have had previous issues with patellar tracking disorder (my knee cap wouldn't track straight) and in the past anything over 6 miles would aggravate my knee to no end. If you look at the shoes to the left, they are noticeably more minimal and in line with the barefoot training style. For my workouts and lifting, I prefer these shoes. For running, I learned I need a bit more of a stability shoe which increases with distance. What shoe do YOU need?

First...do yourself a huge favor, go to a running store. They will watch you walk, jog, or run and teach you about your gait (the way you walk, jog, or run). They can tell you whether you would do better in a minimal, neutral, or more stable shoe. Many times when I'm asked about aches and pains clients have, I always check out their shoes first. It's usually the root of the problem.

I'll categorize shoes into 3 groups for the purposes of this post. You could add a few more such as cushioning and motion control but let's start here.

Minimal/Barefoot:

These are just how they sound, minimalist. They take away all support and let your feet and ankles do the jobs they were made to do. All of your muscles will be firing and activated. If you switch to these, do so slowly. You will be sore! If you are doing any weightlifting, these are ideal, as well as any speed work or intervals. The two shoes on the left are great examples.

Neutral:

Great shoe for weights and/or running, jogging, walking. They offer a little support while still allowing your feet and ankles to fire. Many of us will find these shoes will work for us as long as you don't significantly have issues with pronation or maybe even supination of your feet. The 3rd shoe from the left is the shoe I raced in, and actually did the majority of my training in. It was my preferred shoe as it was almost very minimal itself but not as much as the other two before it so I'd still consider it "neutral".

Stability:

If you overpronate at all, it's likely you'll be recommend to find a stability shoe. As you can see in the image above, for longer distances, I needed to switch to a stability shoe to make sure my knee tracked correctly for such a long duration. My early Saturday morning runs for mileage were always done in one of the three shoes on the right.

Find an old pair of shoes and check how they wear underneath to find out what your feet are doing:

I am by no means an expert on feet but if you have any questions let me know! If I don't know the answer, I'd be happy to help find it for you!

Finally, don't try to go too cheap on running shoes...INVEST in them and in yourself. They are worth it. Your body is all connected in one kinetic chain, if your feet aren't right, likely your back, knees, hips, neck, or something else isn't right either.

Happy trails! Or roads. Or treadmills. :)