What are we talking about today?

I'll get back to theme days once I find a groove of posting regularly. In the meantime, most of my posts are about some variation of books, bikes, buses, or Broadway. Plus bits about writing, nonprofits, and grief from time to time.

This blog is mostly lighthearted and pretty silly. It's not about the terrible things happening in the world, but please know that I'm not ignoring those things. I just generally don't write about them here.

10 January 2011

Run This Way

Chad started mentioning in early December that he was in the market for new shoes. Now we are slow movers in the Cheeky house; a lot of time tends to go by between the realisation that we need to get/change something and the thing actually happening. So, as we discussed at length what his preferred shoe store was,  Fate intervened in the shape of a Groupon from The Running Company.

And we are so glad that she (Fate is a woman, right?) did.

Firstly, I can't get enough of running stores. Our previous city of residence doesn't have any, so I'm like the proverbial kid in a candy store, except that I'm a runner in a running store, which is worse. The Running Company is a relatively new shop in downtown Austin, and among its many virtues are a knowledgeable staff, excellent customer service, and-- get this-- free showers. Yep, if you go for a run on Town Lake and don't want to drive home sweaty, The Running Company has showers available for use. Brilliant.

The beloved Mizunos
They also offer gait analysis, which may be one of the coolest things ever. Even though the shoes were for Chad, not me, she got neutral shoes out for both of us to try it. I put the shoes on, hopped on the treadmill, and ran for 10 seconds. And then we watched the video in über-slow-motion, to see that I am an overpronater (fortunately, my beloved Mizunos fix that problem for me). Chad had pretty much the same result, so our intrepid salesgirl went to the back and emerged with a huge stack of shoes for Chad to try on. She did so needlessly, as it turns out, because my husband is not a good shopper; he more or less settled on the very first pair he tried on. Once he got them on we headed back to the treadmills to look at his gait again.

Whoa, what a difference! After he recorded 10 seconds in the pronation-correcting shoes, we watched the two videos side-by-side, and it was crazy how much the right pair of shoes fixed his form. I know from experience that the same thing happened to me when I got my new Mizunos, but since I didn't get to see my results on video, it was considerably less shocking.

So, the moral of the story is: When buying new running shoes, choose a store with gait analysis. And just to get the ball rolling, tell us about your favourite pair of shoes (running or otherwise!) in the comments.

4 comments:

Meredith McCardle said...

I've often thought I need to go to a running store and get a gait analysis, although I think I've stumbled into the perfect pair of running shoes for my feet regardless. I'm an Asics Gel Nimbus girl. I've owned probably 7 pairs of them. :)

Su said...

Nice! I almost managed to get the perfect pair on my own-- I had the brand right, but not the model. (Is it called a "model" for shoes, or is that limited to cars?)

Unknown said...

model would be correct. Shoes and cars actually have quite a bit in common if you think about it. I am trained in performing the art of gait analysis through employment at Fleet Feet Chicago. We do the video analysis and the rest of the theatrics. I have too many shoes but my current favorites are Adidas Adios (super light, minimal, distance performance shoes)

Su said...

Wow, yay for you! Do you like working there?
I haven't tried minimalist shoes yet.