Any Super Runners Store (especially the Upper West Side one) has great staff - Mike Keohane is especially knowledgable. Even better if you live in Westchester is the Westchester Road Runner in WHite PLains - best store in the area for fitting and selection (IMHO)
Running Shoes
Wed, 03/05/2003 - 8:13am
Wed, 03/05/2003 - 8:33am
#1
Not in my experience
Not all Super Runners stores are created equally. I visited three of them. At the first one, at Grand Central, the cleark was unhelpful and actually off-putting. She tried to sell me shoes like the ones I was wearing, after I explained several times that they gave me problems.
The salespeople at the second store I visited, at Lex and 89th (or thereabouts) were more friendly and generous in giving me a range of choices. I bought a pair there, which I went running on and found I still was having problems.
So I visited the 72nd Street store, where I happened upon Brandi. She watched me run in several different pair of shoes to see how my foot fell. This made me realize that a different pair would have been better than the ones I had just bought. Brandi accepted my already-worn shoes in exchange for the new pair (which cost $10 less, in fact) and fitted me with a pair of orthotics. Result: I nearly doubled my mileage, with no more foot pain. Clearly a place looking for repeat business.
Wed, 03/05/2003 - 10:02am
#2
Brandi
I just got a new pair of running shoes from Brandi. The woman knows her stuff, when it comes to running shoes. She also took me from the shoe I was wearing to a different model - which is cheaper and truly works for my feet.
Thu, 03/06/2003 - 8:37am
#3
shoe shopping
"For 20 or so years, I have had very good success shopping with San Diego native RoadRunner Sports. They have an extensive array of shoes to choose from and running apparrel and their customer service has always been very good in my experience.
Granted, for starters you are better following the advice of other posters here and shopping in person rather than the mail order/online route. I highly recommend putting your name on their mailing list to get their catalog as it is chock full of instructive, well organized information. For instance it includes a sundry of information as to which shoes are geared sspecifically for heavywieght, lightweights, being more supportive, cushioning, lightweight, slip last, straight last, width sizing, so on and so forth. I believe their website has even more information to offer. Purusing that information, one should feel less overwhelmed and more at ease shopping locally. You may be even more knowledgeable about the products than the sales clerk. (No joke!)
Some other tips...
If you find a running shoe you like alot, really alot and it fits well buy a batch more of them. Turnover rates for running shoe models can be quite high. (I'm on my umptienth pair of Saucony Jazz 3000).
Don't run in a pair of running sneaks that are too worn. Aside from the pain, medical bills cost alot more than a pair of new shoes. As a very general rule, after 500 miles of wear, it is a good time to replace your current pair. Of course, your mileage may vary..
I'm a big believer in using shoe goo for the rear of the shoe. In my experience, keeping a level heel plane for the shoe goes a long way to prevent knee and ankle injuries. As an added bonus, shoe goo is also useful for repairing bicycle tires.
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