A Visit with the Shoe Dog and Presents for my feet!!

I’ve had my running shoes for over a year now. I got them from a Snail’s Pace after my first half marathon (Disneyland Half Marathon 2008). So.. I’ve had them WAY WAY WAY over a year. It was time for a new pair of shoes. Minh and I headed over the RoadRunner Sports after work yesterday to see what they had. What’s great is that RoadRunner has Shoe Dog, which analyzes your feet and records your stride. The Shoe Dog expert also points out key features of your feet and stride that should be considered during a shoe purchase and explains everything in a way that’s easy to understand. They did something like this when I was over at Snail’s Pace, but not as in depth and I didn’t really understand why my feet preferred a specific shoe.

As it turns out, I had the right shoes for my feet, but I just needed a new pair. According to Shoe Dog, my balance is pretty good, though a little more weight is on my left foot (52% on left, 48% on right). Weight distribution across the foot is pretty even on my left, and a little off on the right (slightly more weight on the heal). In terms of barefoot running on the treadmill (which I’ve never done before), I land on my forefoot (yay!). My left foot points slightly outward with my ankle rotating inwards when I land. This is a result of my slightly high arch. On my right, I land with my foot straight forward and my ankle directly above my foot (good form on the right). Based on this, and for future reference (and if anyone wants to buy me presents… ::wink wink::), I need a neutral shoe with a non-custom orthotic for my slightly high arch. Currently, I’ve got a pair of Brooks Ghost 2 (from whatever season it was when I bought them), which is a neutral shoe, with blue Superfeet insoles, which provides some support for my arch. Both the shoes and the insoles were in need of replacement.

We were at RoadRunner Sports for about an hour. I picked out a pair of training shoes and a pair of race shoes. After trying on several pairs of shoes (Nike Pegasus, Saucony ProGrid Ride 3, Newton Neutral Trainer), I settled with a new pair of Brooks Ghost 3. They felt the best, and why mess with something that I already know works? They did feel slightly different than my current pair, but that’s because they’ve changed the design a little bit over the year(s). I have a relatively unused pair of berry Superfeet at home that I’m going to put in them. Berry has more support than blue, which may or may not work, but I’m going to try it out.

Brooks Ghost 3

I picked up a pair of race shoes just to have something lighter and “faster” on race day. I tried on two pairs of racing shoes: Nike LunaRacer +2T and Saucony ProGrid Kinvara. I was going to try on new pair of Zoot Ultra TT 3.0, but they didn’t have my size. The LunaRacer is a nice shoe, but very low volume, which made my toes feel like they were being squashed under heavy books (without the weight). So I ended up with the Kinvara. It felt light like the LunaRacer, but had more volume inside for my feet (which aren’t really that big). Felt a little faster on the jog around the parking lot. I’ll need to pick up a pair of blue Superfeet for it and should be good to go.

Saucony ProGrid Kinvara (blue)

I looked online and saw that the Saucony Kinvara also comes in pink or green. They only had blue in the store, so I’m going to call them and see if I can exchange it for pink. Pink race shoes would be AWESOME!

Saucony ProGrid Kinvara (pink)