I have always lived by the the phrase 'You can never have too many shoes', that coupled with a new found career working in a running store is leading to an Imeldacious Marcos style collection. Q-Less actually asked me 'just how many freakin shoes do you own right now' when I showed up for Thursdays' distance run sporting the latest hot pink and grey Asic Kayano despite the disgusting muddy conditions. Her comments were a product of partial envy, coupled with a very conservative approach to her shoes 'tried a new pair once, didn't like them', so she is still wearing the same tried and true shoe we all wore when we began our marathon careers. Don't get me wrong, can't say anything bad about that shoe, the Kayano has carried me through many training runs and plenty of races without a sore toe, blister or painful tendon. It still feels good to me, so cushioned it is like wearing a big warm hug around your foot, especially if you want to do a twenty miler at Valley Green on a wet day. But one day I am convinced we will get her to try a lighter shoe.
My boss didn't pay me to say this, honest, but shoes really do alter the way you run, both pyschologically and physically. I remember my son running track at Ambler Olympic every week; such a cautious individual, who doesn't like to get caught up in the craziness of competition, preferring to stoically stick to his own plan and control the mayhem around him. Well his own plan wasn't really working for him any more, as week after week he put in the same fairly slow mile time without any variance or improvement. Come week 5 we cracked, and like true helicopter parents indulged him with shiny new spikes - he took a minute off his time and was thrilled to be flying round the track! Did the spikes make him faster? not that much in my view, especially as the following week's trek down to Lower Merion track saw him revert to his usual style of running. To rub it in further, he was sufficiently easy in his pacing, so that now he was also to argue very eloquently, and with hand gestures, that he already was going fast when his father and I urged him to 'pick it up'. The thing was, for that one week he had been excited and he truly believed that the shoe would make a huge difference, so of course it did.
Now when I go out to run a tempo run, I simply feel faster the minute I lace up my DS trainer - so I am fast. Positive intention easily translates into reality. Because I believe the shoe's lightness is going to make it easier to raise up my legs and arms higher, I do just that. I feel the lumps and bumps of the trail much more, so I choose to fly over them, rather than puttering along at my usual distance pace. The shoe lends itself to speed by its design, but the positive visualization you get from simply choosing that shoe is worth even more.
Having access to a range of shoes has been fascinating, you start to notice very nuance of lacing, how they hug the foot here or there, whether they have hard or soft suspension and how that translates into your running. In Harry Potter Ollivander said 'the wand chooses the wizard' and I find myself letting the shoes choose me, rather than heading off toward my own prejudices. I am finding a whole new world of shoe candy out there that lend themselves to different running workouts; and I love every one of them for different reasons. So next time you choose your shoes, 'let the shoe choose the runner' and even if are loyal to your current shoe, remember it isn't a marriage, and make sure you try on one other pair just to see........
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