Run Run Away

Question:

I wouldn’t mind paying top dollar for the Air Nike if they didn’t blow out on me. I weigh 175 and run about 30 -40 miles a week. I returned them but am I supposed to spend 140.00 on something that’ll be useless in 3 months. At least a Florsheim will last and can be resoled. I say boycott 100.00 sneakers — chris davis Everybody dies, but not everyone lives http://www.sfo.com/~hulaman

Response:

Simple strategy: stay a step [sic] behind the shoe companies marketing departments…..it seems for example, that Asics upgrades the 120 series faster than they can crank out shoes. Once this happens, the reigning 120 something is banished to the clearance shelf. Asics 123’s sell here in Cinc. for under $50 if you look around. 122’s are about $40. I recently bought New Balance 580’s for $59 as they were replaced by the 585’s. The new model goes for $85+. My running partner goes to Chicago periodically and drags home a load of shoes he finds at outlet stores. He runs in Turntecs….apparently they’re heavily discounted.

Response:

Obsession with price may turn out to be more expensive, injury-wise, than the dollar amount you pay. Turn the problem around. I have tried many shoes over the years (Asics, New Balance, you name it) and for the last four years have stayed with the Nike Air Max. I probably won’t change, as with all others I experience some kind of pain or discomfort, mainly in my shins. The most expensive Air Max goes for about $135 and I believe there’s a new model out that’s even more expensive. But a middle range Air Max costs between $75 and $85. Sometimes you get lucky and find them discounted around $75I don’t think that’s paying too much for comfort. I run about 35 M/week Karyn Smythe

Response:

I don’t like to spend money on shoes either, at least not BIG money. I used to only get ASICS top of the line. I just got two pair of Saucony Procyons for sixty bucks at a retail outlet. Asics went over 100 dollars and I decided they weren’t worth it. Dan

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I do everything I can do NOT buy shoes over $65.00. I buy at expos, sales, outlet stores, and catalogues whenever I see a good price on shoes. I don’t wait to buy shoes when I need them, I buy when on sale. I have shoes in my closet that I’ve never worn cause I saw a deal on them. It is disgusting that these shoe companies are taking advantage of runners by making an average shoe, putting some fancy upper on it, giving it an earcatching name, then selling it for $100.00! The problem is that it is so hard to find good quality running shoes anywhere except for those places I mentioned above OR at specialty running stores that we get desperate and pay their prices, and the shoe companies make oodles of money at our expense. AGH!! Carol Parise Buffalo Chip in Sacramento

Like Carol I am unwilling to pay full price for expensive shoes.  Being in San Diego I can go to Road Runner Sports Outlet store and buy the shoes that a lot of you buy and send back because they don’t fit right.  So for me, I’ll buy three pair of road tested shoes with some wear and it costs me about $100.  Or I’ll go to Movin’ Shoes to support Carl and Rick who have supported thousands of runners for 20 years with fair prices even when the now defunct Second Sole was able to pressure Nike not to sell to them because their prices were too low—they found shoe companies that would support them and in turn…us… Saucony, Brooks to name a few. With the early Nikes and Pumas, there was little cushioning so you could feel the impact of your running if you were a heavy footed runner.  The direction of shoes for running was to make the shoe absorb more and more of the shock from what I consider sloppy running form.  As the soles of the shoes have thickened to soften the foot stike the foot became more unstable the higher it was raised off the ground.  Add to that the (in my biased and crusader zeal) the mistaken and misinformed concept that when running you should land on the heel first, and you now have running shoe companies selling shoes that center all their technology and scientific know-how on perpetuating the misguided notion that runners are suppose to land heel first.   I continue to maintain (it’s not an ordinary cold): 1. If you march in place, the ball of the foot hits first then the heel. 2. Because people are afraid of falling there is an ever so slight lean       backward, which causes the lower leg to snap forward and lands       on the back of the heel of the shoe as the lower leg swings back       (almost like a goose step–that’s why you wear the outer side of       the heels of the shoes out–so that every step is a deceleration       a stopping motion which is practiced in all your walking. 3. When these people (and they are us) begin to run, the neuromuscular       connections are such that the running form is much like the walking       form so that every step is an overstride causing the deceleration       and acceleration with every step with all the gravitational influences       that the shoe companies swear their shoes protect against the 2 or 3 G’s       of force.  Smarten up and realize that the heel of the foot is about       2 inches in front of the heel of the shoe.  So if you landed on the       heel of the foot you’d be landing flat footed with your foot under       your center of gravity…but that’s another post for another year. 4. These runners who land on their shoe heels come dowm with 2+ Gs of force       because they are lifting their center of gravity up and down rather       than lifting the knees and keeping the center of gravity up so that       when the foot lands it lands only the the surface of the earth.  That       means that the rest of the body weight does not come crashing onto the       landing foot with 2 to 3 Gs of force. Gawd…..and I blurted that all out in one breathe.  Oh magawd,  I’ve exposed my deepest beliefs about what’s wrong not only with running shoe companies but so many of us that don’t think and are "unintelligent runners" or joggers.  But the truth is that Arthur Lydiard defined jogging as running until you were winded-walk until you recovered and then running again…and on…and on…until you became a runner.  Joggers have become mental sloggers, not thinking that they can be light on their feet and have fewer injuries. It’s my biased belief that the problem IS in the training of proper running form and style.  That running is truly a dance and that it can be done gracefully or clumsily.  And the average runner perpetuates this myth by seeing running only as an aerobic activity that for most runners will one day destroy knees, hips or ankles.  If we remain stupid,  "stupid is as stupid does" then we will continue to think that it’s the shoes and that high tech stuff is the answer and "do" nothing to inprove our grace. You see I practice a 6 minute mile when I am running 10 minute miles.  I am practicing running fast as I sit in front of this computer screen because I am aware of my posture and the effect that it has on my running.  As I drive my car I practice fast smooth efficient running by the way I rest my legs as I push the accelerator or brake or push in the clutch.  I practice good running form as I walk because I know that walking and running is holding the body erect and falling gracefully from the ankle to the top of the head.   I now run with "fair maiden’s hands" if you do Tai Chi.  You see I practice these slow moving exercises of Tai Chi because they ingrain patterns of movement and balance.  For when I run, I run with my whole body.  I don’t run with my legs,  it’s my legs that just so happen to touch the ground.  Did you ever stop to think that a horse is not running on its foot, but that it is running on its finger nails….and the jockeys stay steady on the back of a 1500+ lb.galloping powerful animal.     Well, I tucked this away under Carol Parise’s post on expensive shoes because I didn’t need to blast my biases too loud.   Also I wanted to acknowledge that the Buffalo Chips have been a great connection for so many people.  It has been a pleasure knowing many of them.  They helped me out in the 70’s when I was doing a research paper for New York Academy of Sciences Symposium on the Marathon on the personality types of sub-3 hour marathoners. How’s George Parrot doing?  Strange how we psychologists/philosophers/ coaches look at life…and running. For me it all started with the work of Tad Kostrubala as his first, what he called, Running Therapist…and I have a signed certificate to prove it.  He put it into a book "The Joy of Running."  And that’s a big part of my last 20 years…how about yours???? A little cyberspace chautauqua and historical recollection and perspective from the Maintainer. — In health and on the run, Ozzie Gontang Maintainer-rec.running FAQ Director, San Diego Marathon Clinic,  est. 1975

Response:

things must be slow your neck of the woods for your concern to be so great. Me thinks thou doest protest too much.  We give used shoes to the mission in our city , would you like the address? Larry

Response:

I do everything I can do NOT buy shoes over $65.00. I buy at expos, sales, outlet stores, and catalogues whenever I see a good price on shoes. I don’t wait to buy shoes when I need them, I buy when on sale. I have shoes in my closet that I’ve never worn cause I saw a deal on them. It is disgusting that these shoe companies are taking advantage of runners by making an average shoe, putting some fancy upper on it, giving it an earcatching name, then selling it for $100.00! The problem is that it is so hard to find good quality running shoes anywhere except for those places I mentioned above OR at specialty running stores that we get desperate and pay their prices, and the shoe companies make oodles of money at our expense. AGH!! Carol Parise Buffalo Chip in Sacramento

Response:

Carol writes: The problem is that it is so hard to find good quality running shoes anywhere except for those places I mentioned above OR at specialty running stores that we get desperate and pay their prices, and the shoe companies make oodles of money at our expense. AGH!! Carol Parise

You are so right Carol. I ran 20 miles in a pair of Analogs I bought for $20 at Marshalls, a discount clothing store.

Response: