I picked up some travel books for my vacation, and now, I need a mini notebook to log the trip in. And some damned sneakers. Maybe I can head into Marathon sports this weekend and see what they have. If they don’t have anything, I’m going to take up swimming or something. I went to 4 stores tonight, and consistently missed out on at least one of the following in every pair I tried: fit, size, or style. Towards the end, I didn’t give a crap if the sneakers were designed by MC Hammer, if only I could run in them.

What’s the problem? Normally, people run slightly on the outside of their feet. These people are happy, and can buy any neutral shoe and run their faces off without having their knees pop out and roll down the street. These people are said to have neutral pronation. These people can wear any shoe and jump for joy at their fortune.

Another set of people run on the insides of their feet. These people will watch their knees pop out unless they buy a running shoe with a harder sole on the instep to push the foot outward and level it off. They also could use a shoe with good rotation control, which will stabilize the foot. This will come in the form of a hard piece of plastic under the arch of the sneaker. The people who need these shoes are over pronators. These shoes are easy to find.

The final set of people are called supinators. They tend to really run on the outside of their feet, and should not have any motion control on their foot. These people also tend to need really good shock absorption.

As far as I can tell, I fall in between normal and supination, making finding a shoe a pain in the ass. I want a little motion control, and a hell of a lot of shock absorption to counteract the slight supination. Not to mention at around 205 lbs., I have a fair amount of weight coming down on my knees. So, in the last few years I have gone with New Balance, because they are comfortable, light and neutral, while offering a bit of roll control and lot of extra cushioning.

Can I find that shoe this time? Not a chance. So, I went to 4 stores and got called things like “chief” and “sir” from kids 1/2 my age, coming away with no more than a feeling that I’d wasted a lot of time.

So, Marathon here I come. Maybe I should just take up nude something or other and avoid all the associated outfitting costs.

P.S. – If you have a non-standard foot width, New Balance comes in different widths, too.

Here I sit rambling about sneakers while the world goes to shit. Welcome to America…

Posted in Misc.