Bring your old best running shoes when shopping.
When asked about how to narrow your choices down from 40 different models of running shoes to the best running shoes for you, this is what Rich Harris had to say.
Rich:
You come into our store and look at 40 models of running shoes on the wall and ask, how do I know which one is right for me, how do I know which shoe I need.
So where we start is that we’ll have you stand in your stockings or your bare feet. Spread about a foot apart. We’re going to have you stand on your left foot, stand on your right foot. What we want to see is what happens with the weight. Does your foot cave in or roll in. Does it go to the outside? Are you just real stable, kind of like a rock, does it even move? What goes on right there? That is going to give us some indication of how stable your foot is. How supportive it is.
From there we’re going to say, you need a neutral shoe, you need a motion control shoe, here are some recommendations right here. So right away we’ve eliminated 80% of the shoes on the wall, and we’ve narrowed it down to these 3 shoes right here. There could be 10 choices of each up there, but we are going to try and get some more information out of you, wide foot, narrow foot. These questions help determine what the best running shoes will be for your particular feet and needs.
If you have an old pair of shoes, they tell the best story ever, turn it over and look at the wear pattern. That tells us over many, many miles what your biomechanics are and what’s going on. If you have an old pair of shoes, by far that’s the single best thing you can do is bring that down to us, let us take a look at it, let us take a look at the wear pattern. We can get a really good idea, was that a great shoe for you, or maybe we will suggest we should go somewhere else with your shoes.
Daniel:
What exactly are you looking at?
Rich:
We are looking at the outsole, the bottom of the shoe, looking for that wear pattern. We will also look at the foam that is in the middle. That is your major cushioning device, so what we are going to look at is do you see creases and wrinkles in a certain part of that shoe, in that mid-sole foam, because there generally should be some in the outside corner of the heel strike, that is where you put the most of the wear and pressure on the shoe. But then as you roll through the shoe onto your forefoot, is there more on the medial side, the lateral side. Is there a lot maybe its on the lateral side of the shoe, way inside by the heel, that would indicate that you are pretty severe pronator. Even if your last pair of running shoes weren’t the best running shoes for you, they tell a story that will get your closer to the best running shoes.
So we look at those creases and the wrinkles and where you are putting the most stress on the shoe. And then you look at the outsole and you see where is the rubber worn down, mostly along the outside, along the lateral side, mostly along the medial side, and that really tells you what is going on.
Posted on August 16th, 2008 under best running shoes • Tags: best running shoes. • 
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