As the co-manager of road and trail running shoe testing for Outside, I receive almost every new shoe released. Despite the hundred or so running shoes in my office, however, I recently found myself buying running shoes in a store. My teenage son, currently a men’s size 12 and still growing, started high school track season and needed a new pair of trainers.
You would think that after testing so many pairs, I could shop for him online. After all, I write running shoe guides that include convenient links for readers to purchase the shoes we recommend. And I wholeheartedly believe that there is great value in reading those guides to help you narrow down what shoe might work well for you—based on the type of running you do, the kind of shoe you’re looking for, how a shoe scored for our team. Reading up on the season’s best options will make you a well-informed shopper, which is valuable under any circumstance and especially if you get a shoddy salesperson—so keep reading our guides.
But nothing better informs your buying decision than the tried-and-true method of popping into your local running store and putting your real-life feet in some real-life shoes. (Lacking a convenient, competent shoe store, ordering several models from a site with a generous return policy and sending back some after gently trying them is a second-best alternative—and another reason to keep using our guides).
So, as tempting as it was to pull from my informed brain, which is filled with hours upon hours of testing and researching and writing reviews, to find my son a pair online and click “Buy Now,” I refrained. I know better.
Buying shoes in person can be more expensive than buying them online. But so is physical therapy, often the cost of wearing the wrong pair of running shoes.
Guessing on the right pair and sustaining an injury from running in the wrong shoes for your stability and cushioning needs, foot shape, running gait, and ride preferences is not worth the lower cost. Missing a track meet due to injury is enough to put a sports freak mom (like me) into a FOMO frenzy, even if it doesn’t bother my son so much. And so, we shopped in a store.
Sam, my giant teenager (6’2” and growing, with an inch or two more of hair), and I popped into In Motion Running in Boulder, Colorado. In Motion is both a running shoe store and physical therapy office. I’ve long known and respected owner (and former world marathon champion) Mark Plaatjes for having the strongest thumbs in Boulder for manual physical therapy, being a fantastic diagnostician with any sports-related ailment, and for fitting people in the right running shoes for them.
When Sam and I arrived, we learned that Mark was out of the country visiting his native South Africa. But Lori, a longtime footwear salesperson, was there to help. I felt at ease. Another beautiful thing about shopping in your local store is that you are helped by people in your local running community. I’d raced against Lori—we’re in the same age group—in earlier versions of both of our lives. She’s worked in run specialty retail for years, and I know she knows her stuff.
She quickly went to work. “What distances do you run?” she asked, after finding out his foot size. “Any injuries?”
Armed with his answers, she disappeared into the stock room and returned with three options, all with very different feels on the foot.
Sam went through the Goldilocks assessment, trying on each shoe and running up and down the hallway. Lori and I chatted while Sam gave each shoe a spin. “How does that feel?” she’d ask him, while checking the length of each pair on his feet.
“Which makes you excited about running?” I asked him. When he took another spin in one of the three pairs and jumped up and down with a smile on his face, I knew we’d found the winner.
Before we headed to the cash register, Lori did her due diligence and filmed him running on the treadmill in his chosen pair of shoes. His stride looked natural and smooth.
The shoes he ended up with might be on sale somewhere online. I don’t know; I didn’t check. And I decided that I don’t care, even though life (and especially, life with kids) is expensive. What Sam and I gained during that in-person shoe-fitting experience, and the community vibe that came with it, was well worth the fair retail price that we paid.
Once he wears out this pair, I’ll look back on how healthy he stayed during this track season. I’ll research updates to the model he’s in and see what other shoes are similar. If all goes well in his current pair and the updated shoe has a similar ride, we’ll likely hit that “Buy Now” button online.
But as he grows and changes in athleticism, and as shoes evolve, we’ll return to our local running shoe store to find the right model for the runner he will have become.
The post Why, and When, You Should Buy Running Shoes at a Store appeared first on Outside Online.
