New running shoes for the brand snob
Ever since we’d bought Mat some awesome new cross trainers for netball and the gym, I’d been highly jealous. I love new things (yet go out of my way to get them rarely) and it had been a year and a half since I’d purchased a new pair of trainers for myself. But, I’d promised myself I would be patient, and only buy a pair when necessary.
Then I was rewarded. The sides of my shoes opened to form a gaping hole for the side of my big toe, and a new pair of shoes because a necessity rather than a want. I waited until pay day, then no sooner had the clock struck 5pm and I had finished work for the day that I was headed out the door to Rebel Sports.
I thought I would be just doing the exact same as what I’d done back at the start of 2007. Look at the Asics Netburner range, look for the most expensive, and somehow convince myself expensive meant great (although my last shoes WERE pretty awesome). But this time I had an additional requirement – they had to be good for running too. So through the process of evolution I now needed a pair of x trainers, not just shoes to be used exclusively for netball. This whole area was new for me, I was in foreign territory.
I consulted with the footwear assistant on my dilemma. He confirmed running shoes were out, as were netball shoes. Then he got technical, which I’d never had before. I stripped for him (just my shoes – get your mind out of the gutter!) and paraded up and down the catwalk, I mean, store, in just socks. At first I was comfortable with it, but then during later discussions I decided I was never doing that again. He had observed everything I hate about my feet.
He pointed out that:
- I have extremely wide feet at the front
- I have a normal sized heel; and
- Therefore I don’t have a normal shaped/size woman’s foot.
I asked if that meant I should be looking at men’s shoes, and he said while they had other women that did that (and I could if I wanted to) he thought I should still aim for the women’s shoes, but that my range was now limited. By a lot. In fact, to 4 pairs of shoes out of the total store. I could have added more, but he echoed my thoughts when he said it’s not worth going for the cheap shoes – with footwear you truly are paying for quality.
My choices were limited to a pair of each of the following brands: New Balance, Brooks, Nike (although grudingly, he said they were more designed for fashion than for serious stability), and some other brand that was obviously not very good because I can’t remember it. Now I should confess here and say I’m a HUGE brand snob when it comes to my trainers. I’m usually a 3 brand girl – Asics, Adidas and Nike. And giving his pain in recommending the NIke, that one was out. The other one I can’t remember why I didn’t choose it, but it was out too.
Which left me with the New Balance and Brooks. I’ve always always always thought in my mind they were both crap brands. But I wanted new shoes, and was willing to give them a chance. We measured up my feet, where we found I also had a massive foot. 10 1/2 in women’s shoes, holy moly! He went out the back to get the sizes while I sat down with a foot complex.
He came back and explained he’d forgotten they didn’t have 1/2 size shoes when you get up to the 10′s and so on with women’s shoes, so it was 10 or 11. I tried on the size 10 of the new balance (purple and very girly) and found my toe was touching the end, it was too small. Size 11 it was (FAR OUT!). Unfortunately they didn’t have a size 11 in the New Balance either, so if I didn’t like the Brooks then it was no go for me. I tried it on, and found that surprisingly it felt pretty damn good!
New Brooks x trainers
I went for a walk in it, he pointed out the benefits of the shoes, and I tried blocking out the brand and focusing on the feel. They were light, they felt supportive, and very very stable. I was sold, and was more keen than ever to replace my current shoes with this new pair. He escorted me up the front where I paid for them (scoring a 5% discount courtesy of my gym membership thank you very much) and made my way home. As I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve actually been wearing the shoes and occasionally looking down at them. There’s just so much silver!!
The technology section on the Brooks site sounds pretty impressive. MoGo etc etc. On the back of the shoe (you can’t really see it in that picture) is a bit of plastic that has the words “HydroFlow” on it. I couldn’t find anything on the internet, but on the label it says the shoe has a “Patented silicon-based system engineered to dampen shock at impact. Dynamically disperses fluid around the heel (huh?! Cool!). Never wears out, outlives the life of the shoe). Wow!
So tonight I crossed a new path – I’ve shrugged off the brand snob label and giving a new brand a go. In just under an hour I’ll be playing my first game of netball in them, and will have to give you an update of how they went. I have a feeling I’ll be very very happy.