When the shoe fits

If you go to the Fort-4-Fitness website at www.fort-4-fitness.org, you’ll find a real-time countdown to the city’s first certified half-marathon, right down to the minute. There’s nothing like a ticking clock to make you put down your fruity cocktail, get off that pontoon and run a few laps around the lake instead.

Or if you’re like me and a half-marathon sounds wholly impossible right now, you might at least practice walking or running four miles at a decent pace so you can take part in the downtown two-day health extravaganza this September 26-27.

All you need to prepare is a bit of good weather (or a track/treadmill/mall/school gym—no excuses) and a pair of quality shoes. I’ve not had luck securing sunshine, but I can tell you how to land some top running kicks.

Shoes that fit like gloves

Casey Shafer’s name may be familiar. He’s often at the top of local race results. He’s placed high in other parts of the country, too: 11th at the Indy Mini-Marathon in 2006 in 1:08:34; 26th at the 2005 Bix 7-miler in Davenport, Iowa, in 36:10; and fourth at the Butler Twilight 5k in 14:37. Shafer is the course record holder and three-time defending champion of the River City Rat Race.

Casey runs. A lot. He’s covering 90-100 miles a week right now, preparing for the Fort-4-Fitness half-marathon and a full marathon this fall.

Casey also is the marketing promoter and assistant manager for Three Rivers Running Co. at 4227 N. Clinton St. He started working for the company about a month before the first retail location on Covington Road opened its doors in 2004.

Casey knows running, and he knows shoes. So even though my training could be described as Running Lite, I had surpassed the 500-mile limit on my sneakers, and it was time for a new pair. With lots of outdoor running ahead this summer and a few races to spur me on, I went to see Casey.

Rule No. 1 of buying new shoes: Bring your old pair along. Bring some socks, too.

Casey looked at my Filas and noted right away the places where they were worn, gathering clues about my stride.

Then we talked. We talked about my routine and about any problems I was experiencing. I mentioned that I will be wearing the same shoes for light running outdoors and on a treadmill, as well as cardio training on an elliptical machine, stair mill and arc trainer. I lift weights five days a week in the same shoes, too. (Turns out weightlifting can break down a shoe’s cushion more quickly.)

I also told Casey that last summer, when I was running to and from the gym plus running at the gym, I had some pain in one hip—a result of my wonky stride, I was sure.

We still weren’t ready for shoes. Next Casey looked at my feet. He evaluated my arch (medium) and my heel (very narrow) and measured my foot. We decided I’m probably a size 8 in running shoes, maybe even an 8.5 in certain brands, even though I wear a 7.5 in regular shoes.

No shoes yet: Next, I pulled on my old shoes and hit the treadmill. Three Rivers Running has a camera mounted at the base to watch your stride from behind. I jogged a bit, then Casey reviewed my steps in slow-mo. There was that wonky stride—I’m a pronator, which means when my foot hits the ground, it rolls inward and the inside of my ankle buckles in. About 70 percent of people who come into the store pronate to some degree, Casey said.

I asked if I should change my stride or focus on a muscle group while running to pull my ankle in. Casey said my biomechanics would be pretty impossible to change, but that a good shoe will do the work. Awesome—a shoe that helps.

Now we were ready for shoes. Casey brought out four pairs. He limits his first picks to three or four so customers aren’t overwhelmed, often Asics, Brooks and Mizuno. They’re basic shoes in a basic price range, around $90-100. A higher cost often isn’t necessary, Casey said, unless you’re covering a ton of miles or have a bigger body size that requires more cushioning.

(Shoe prices in general will increase, however, as overseas regulations, the depressed dollar and increased gas costs take their toll, Casey noted.)

Each stability shoe offered varying levels of support under the inside of my foot, to push my ankle back into alignment as I hit the ground. We started with the least firm—already I could see a difference in the treadmill test. I tried a second pair, then a third. While the third pair was most solid, the second pair wrapped snugly under my arch, making every step feel firm and aligned.

The tiebreaker? With one of each pair on each foot, I ran in a few goofy circles around the parking lot, to the amusement of all at the gas station next door. The second pair, the Asics, still felt comfortably molded to my feet and offered enough support to offset my wonky stride. I was sold.

Of course, everyone’s needs and feet are different. “That’s why we keep asking questions,” Casey said. His training requires three different pairs: a durable cushioned trainer for longer runs (Brooks Adrenaline 8); an experimental shoe he’s test-driving for the store on recovery days (right now a Puma Tenos V); and a lightweight trainer for speed work and tempo runs (Mizuno Elixir 3).

While buying a good running shoe requires some discussion and time at the store, it really begins before you set foot in the door. “The consumer should consider previous running shoe purchases,” Casey said. “If you had good success in a type of shoe, why change that success? Likewise if you had a lemon, know that maybe you should understand why it didn’t work for you and pick shoes with better traits toward your wants and needs.”

It’s in the picking that oh-so-fast Casey takes his time. And though Three Rivers Running is a specialty run shop, runners (and runners-to-be) of all levels are welcome. “Come visit me with your old shoes, an open mind and a smile,” Casey said.

Fit to be tied

Casey showed me how to lace-lock my shoes to keep them from slipping around my narrow heels. There are other ways to tie your shoes, too, to accommodate various issues. See www.newbalance.com/techcenter/#/lacing for demonstrations.