Sneakerhead

Well if I wasn't already into shoes before today I guess now I'm immersed.  Shoes and running technology has definitely been the theme of the day.  I started off the day with a walk in my running shoes to really feel out how they fit me.  Then I spent a while reading articles online about running stride, gait, and common gait problems.  Then I watched videos online of various running and walking gaits (plus 3d models and renderings - isn't the internet great?).

Then I had lunch.

Then I headed over to Portland Running Company, where shoe fitting expert Rich was very helpful in answering questions that my morning cram session had brought up.  I watched some in-person gait evaluation and shoe fittings.  I talked running with Rich whose fastest marathon time is 2:23, which is only 50 minutes more than my fastest HALF marathon time.  He was able to inform me about his particular reasons for recommending certain brands and shoes and clarified the very different purposes of shoe design and insole design.

Then I had lunch.  Wait...

Based on all this learning I determined that a while back on the tour the Mizuno rep that looked at about three strides I took before figuring out which shoes would be best for me actually knew a thing or two.  But wait, there's more.  After all this, I went back online and started doing some research and rote memorization on running shoe lines and their various features.

Ah, the life of a job hunter.