Shoe Geek = Nightmare for the Shoe Salesman

To all the athletic "sneaker" shoe salesman out there I must apologize.... I am truly sorry for being such a pain in the ass! If you see me in your store it is probably better to just avoid me. Maybe it is that I have a running shoe fetish or maybe it is that I am hard to please, but it takes me forever to settle on the right set of new "kicks" and I am still on a quest for the elusive pair of perfect running shoes.

Since I am a self-proclaimed "Shoe Geek" I try on different running shoes just for fun and every time I do I find something wrong with each pair of shoes from a technical perspective. I quiz shoe sales people and listen to them spout about supination/pronation, cushioning, stability, motion control, insoles, podiatry, etc. and, they assume that I don't know jack about buying a pair of shoes....then I end up lecturing them about how much they don't know about running shoes and their industry.

Just this last week at Forward Motion in Danville (full disclaimer - probably the best running specialty shop in the Bay Area which I have spent easily over $5000+ at) I got into it with a sales person who gave me a "holier than thou" monologue about running shoes that work and don't work for certain shoe types and injuries. In the end we agreed to disagree and settled on a difference of opinion, but I still feel like I got the better of the argument. Guess its just my philosophy is radical compared to most about running shoes that has changed and doesn't match up to mainstream.

Currently my shoe recommendations (for the record)....

Newton Running Shoes - For trainers
Nike Waffle Racers - For the Track
Inov-8 - For Trail Running

The jury is still on Vibram's Five Fingers - They just look funny!

Want my thoughts? Ask me what I think of your shoes!

Recommended read for Marathoners....

I have a very long commute to and from work, in the morning I listen to KNBR's Murph and Mac. In the evening I tend to zone out on the ride home, but recently I got this book called Born to Run by Christopher Mcdougall and I have enjoyed it immensely. The author puts into words many of the thoughts, feelings, and philosophies I've had about running in the past year or so. It is a great story, but more importantly has a great message to be taken from it - we are runners and can thrive from running. It has completely changed the way I think about my own feet and my ability to run.

Chris McDougall tells a riveting true story that follows the path of a some very intriguing people and the paths they follow to one of the greatest ultra-marathons ever held. An ultra-marathon run that only a hand full of people saw. The story quickly turns into a series of flashbacks and sidebars discussing topics such as the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico, ultramarathons, the biomechanics of running, the evolution of man from cro magnum to "running man," and of course the race in the Copper Canyon between the Tarahumara and the American ultramarathoners.