New Shoes!

What girl doesn’t like love shoes? I mean seriously… shoe people!

So we all know that I have been having dramas with my shoes.  If you didn’t you can read about it here or here.

So while I was down in Melbourne visiting my family I thought it would be a good idea to visit the running shoe shop.  Now I had a choice of which store to go to.  When I got my Kayano’s I got them fitted here. This time around I decided to go to The Running Company in Geelong. Why this store?  Well, why not?  Geelong was no more closer than the other store, but I chose The Running Company because it meant not having to go to the city, and then stress over parking and whatnot.  Also, I saw the range that The Running Company had when I was at the Geelong Half Marathon (you can read that here), and I was impressed, that’s why I decided to go there.

Now I’m not one to buy things on a whim.  I like to do my research, and believe me, I did my research.  That being said though, you can do all the research in the world, but you may not end up picking what you think is right for you.

A pair of shoes can change your life.  Just look at Cinderella.

Anyway, I arrived at TRC in seriously daggy gear… I mean track pants, a t-shirt, and a jumper… I was looking like a bum, but I was comfortable (bum).  I did do my first session of yoga that morning too, so I was a bit on the pooped side.

I was greeted by Julian, to who I then told my running dramas and history to. I then jumped on the treadmill and ran barefoot, where my running style was recorded.  We chatted a bit more about running, and where I was told, I had a good running style… yes you read right, a good running style.  I was like what?! Yeah, I didn’t believe that, but hey, I liked it, I liked it a lot.

It was then time for trying on shoes! Woohoo, Shoes!

First up was a pair of Brooks Pure Cadence 2, then a pair of seriously bright (you will never lose me) Fluro orange Nike’s (I think Lunaglides, I can’t remember if this is correct though, they could have been Anodyne’s). Last was a pair of Saucony Hurricanes.

Each shoe was radically different.

The Brooks was a 2mm shoe (whereas my Kayano’s are a 12mm if you have no idea what I’m talking about it’s the heal to toe ratio to the ground, the lower the number the lower the heel is to the ground).  They were very light (and I loved the colour), and I was surprised at how well they fitted my feet, well compared to the Kayano’s that is.

With the Nike shoes, even though they were very bright, and orange (love), they felt really heavy in the heel.

They were also a 12mm shoe, and let me tell you, you can tell the difference in the drops.
The Saucony was also a great fit, they weren’t such a low drop like the Brooks, but not as high as the Nikes.

They are set at an 8mm drop.  The Saucony’s were a good shoe, and I liked them a lot better than the Nike’s, but there was something about the Brooks.  I popped them on again and had another run.  Yep, these were the ones. These were Cinderella shoes.

So the Brooks Pure Cadence 2’s were the winner.

All up I spent about an hour in the store, but the service that I received was outstanding service.  Yeah, I could have purchased these shoes online for so much cheaper, but there would be no way I would have gotten that type of customer service.

Seriously I will be going back there again for sure.

The next day I got to try out my new shoes.

New shoes = happy me #running pic.twitter.com/XobQjvlMYO

— Matilda Iglesias (@MatildaIglesias) June 7, 2013

It wasn’t a super long run, but wow, what a difference. They felt so much lighter. I felt no rubbing on my toes or the soles of my feet.

Being a low drop shoe aka a minimalistic shoe I didn’t want to overdo it on my first run. My next run however didn’t end up being until 5 days later. I got hit with (another) cold (thanks kids – I still love you though). Monday I thought I was dying, I had no energy, and everything felt like a fog.

Fast forward to Thursday (which yes was also my birthday), and I got to run in my new shoes again (a present to me from me). Oh what pure joy.  No more clop like a horse, and the best part, I didn’t have ugly feet after my run. Woohoo!

The (pink) Kayano’s have been retired to just walking now (and possibly the next tough mudder).  They have been great shoes, but obviously, now they aren’t.  What I find incredibly interesting is that I’ve naturally gravitated to minimalistic shoes.  Which is essentially one step behind barefoot, which is it a coincidence? Maybe, who knows?  All I know is that I’m happy with my purchase, and so are my feet.