This question seems to be the eternal question on social media. What brand or model is the best shoe?
If it were only that simple.
The truth is that everyone is different. While it may seem like a foot is a foot, my foot is different than your foot in many ways. In shape, structure, strength, function, and mechanics there are many things that may be hard to see if not completely invisible to an untrained eye that makes all of our feet different. The combination of hundreds of variables ensures that almost no two feet will be the same. In fact, there are almost certainly some differences between your left foot and your right foot.
With all of these differences, it’s a good thing that we have dozens, if not hundreds, of very good models of running shoes by several good brands. Every model will be a little different than even the most similar model to it and that means there is probably a “perfect” or at least nearly perfect model out there for you. However, the important thing to remember is that what is “perfect” or even just “best” for you will probably not be what is best for me or the next person.
So how do I pick the best shoe for me?
That’s the next logical question. If there are so many good shoes but no best shoe in general, how do you decide what’s best for you?
Well, you go through trial and error. You try on many pairs of shoes and see what feels best.
This is where I suggest going to a specialty running store. The trained shoe fitters at a good running store will ask you some questions about what has or hasn’t worked in the past, look at your feet, watch you walk, run, or do some other exercises, and narrow down the list of shoes that would be expected to work for you. They then will encourage you to try at least a few pairs, quite possibly several, to see what feels best. This is the process needed to find the best out of seemingly endless selection of available models.
In addition, a good running store will offer some form of return policy because they know that you can’t fully know whether a pair of shoes is the right one for you or not until you’ve run at least a few times in them.
I know this sounds like I’m trying to give you a sales pitch, that I might even be getting paid by the “Running Store Association of America” for this plug. The truth is that I’m not. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t even such a thing as the Running Store Association of America (if there is, feel free to reach out 😉). It’s simply what I always do my best to offer, good advice. Nobody on social media can tell you what would work well for you but a trained individual working with you in person can narrow the list of good options to a selection that you can actually try in order to see what feels best.