Last night, I had the privilege to be a co-host on the
Runner's Round Table #36, where we interviewed Charlie Colpaert from Fleet Feet Sports in Chicago. It was an interesting and informative episode. I brought up an issue I hadn't really talked about on this blog, and that was my poor choice of training shoes several years ago. I wore Nike shoes through the mid-90s. Then I switched to Brooks. Brooks Beast, to be precise. As you know, I'm not a big guy. Brooks Beast is for big runners. Big runners who have low arches and pronate. I have high arches and underpronate. So why did I choose the Beast? Well, the key word in the previous sentence is "I"...as in "I didn't get professional advice" before buying them. I have a runner friend who is a larger runner and I believe he wore them. I was having issues with my right knee and IT band and figured I needed more stability to address the problem. I didn't do my homework, obviously. I stayed in that model for 3 or 4 pair and ended up really messing myself up. I think it was the main contributing factor in my demise as a runner a few years ago. I still have yet to get a gait analysis by a shoe expert, but I did much more research (EDIT: and was advised by my good friend and ultra-runner extraordinaire
Arthur Martineau) before buying my current shoes, the
Brooks Defyance 2, which are much more suited to my feet and legs. I still have some minor IT band issues (mostly some occasional hip discomfort), but I can tell these shoes have made a major difference in my "running resurrection"! Check out the
podcast if you get a chance, and pop in every Wednesday, usually at 4pm EST.
Here's a shot of my current running shoe rotation. From left to right (and from highest mileage to lowest): Brooks Defyance 2 (pair "A"), Brooks Cascadia 3, Brooks Defyance 2 (pair "B"), Brooks Launch. Pair "A" of my Defyance 2's is just about ready for retirement.
I had to put them on. They still feel great! Probably not too many miles on them, since I mostly wore them to meets. Still have some replacement spikes, too. Now I'm itching to wear them again...someday. I may enter a local All-Comers track meet, possibly next summer. They've been boxed up for 24 years, but I still don't know about their structural integrity. I can just see myself rounding the last turn on the track and having pieces of them flying off, like a blown tire on a speeding semi. Or a pulled calf muscle. But, man, putting these on again really pegged the "nostalgia meter". Fun to reminisce sometimes.
