How to Choose Running Shoes

There are a lot of good running shoes out there, but how do you choose the best ones for you? It’s important that you understand a couple of basic things when you choose your running shoe — and by the way, it doesn’t have to do with the brand of shoe at all.

Namely, the best running shoe for you is going to be based upon the size and shape of your feet, and how and where you run.

Where do you run?

Trail running shoes are meant for “off-road” running, so if you like to run trails in the rugged outdoors, for example, trail running shoes are best for you. If you’re going to be running mostly on pavement and occasionally on packed (and relatively smooth) surfaces like nature trails, you will probably want to choose road running shoes.

What are your feet like?

Size is important, of course, but so is width and arch shape. You can measure size and width when you buy your shoe, but the best way to determine your arch type is by making note of the imprint your foot leaves when you step out of the tub and onto a bath mat. If the footprint shows a high arch with a narrow, curved footprint, you’ll need to support your high arches. If you have a normal arch, you will have more of a footprint than someone with a high arch, but less of a footprint than someone who is flat-footed. If you have very low arches or are “flat-footed,” you’ll have a footprint where most of your foot shows, and very little arch is denoted.

Why all this talk about arches? Because they’re going to determine how you run, which is going to impact the type of shoe you get. When you run, your heels should hit the ground first, and then your feet should roll inward ever so slightly, with your arch flattening to cushion impact. Then, your foot rolls slightly to the outside and it’s a little bit stiffer so that you can “spring up” to take your next step.

Pronation is what happens when your foot rolls inward after your heel strikes the ground. When it’s perfectly balanced, it absorbs impact and relieves the pressure on joints.

However, most people don’t have pronation that’s perfectly balanced. Instead, most runners have over pronation, which is an exaggerated inward roll. If that’s you, you need protection so that you don’t injure joints, your knees especially. In that case, you need shoes that give you stability or control motion.

If you suffer from supination, you don’t have enough pronation; in other words, you have under pronation. In that case, your foot rolls outward so that there isn’t enough of impact absorption at landing. If that’s you, you need shoes that are flexible and that have plenty of cushion.

Shoe shapes

You need a particular shape and form of shoe depending on any pronation, etc., problems you have. This is called the “last” of a shoe. If you have a flexible flat arch, and/or if you have over pronation, you need a straight last.

You need a curved last if you have rigid, high arches and you are an under pronator. You need a semi-curved last if you are a “neutral” pronator.

Shoe materials

Today, shoe materials have been developed so that your foot is more comfortable and can “breathe” better than in even those made in recent years. Synthetic leather, for example, is a great upper material to consider because it breathes better than real leather does, and it doesn’t take the break in time real leather does.

One tip when you do go to buy shoes, make sure you buy them at the end of the day when your feet are at their most swollen. This will make sure you get shoes that fit well and that aren’t too small.

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