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| - There are certain things in life which are best handled by experts. Radioactive elements, explosives, raw fish, and body parts come to mind. While I doubt the good folks at Runner's Den could help you with the first three, they can surely help you save your legs!
Running is one of those things that anyone can do, and anyone can screw up. Our strides, just like our bodies, are all different. Having expert advice on what sorts of shoes can help us prevent injury is worth every penny you spend. (Does this sound like the voice of someone who has dealt with injury before?)
After a long layoff from running, I ventured here on the advice of a friend. I was very glad I made the drive. I parked in the small, somewhat awkward parking lot and went inside store to find several staff members who greeted me pleasantly. A female employee walked right up to me and asked me how she could help. I explained my situation to her and she listened intently, asking me a few questions along the way about my exercise history, what sort of running I did in the past, so on and so forth.
It should be noted that at no point did she ever "judge" any of the information I gave her. This is always a sticky point in places that specialize in physical fitness. Customers, quite frankly, don't want to hear about how fit the employees are; or how physically unfit customers are. Even something as small as the tone in an employee's voice can upset a customer. There was none of that here. I overheard other employees talking to customers, and they all had the same focus that "my" employee had...to help the customer build the confidence to get back in the saddle, or to reach that personal goal, or to do that half-marathon.
That encouragement was a good enough start, and then it was on to the nitty-gritty. The employee had me walk outside with her and then run a few short laps up and down along the side of the building. Then she watched me walk those same laps, so she could gauge my stride. When this was done, she brought me back inside, measured my feet, and brought me two pairs of shoes that she chose based upon my stride.
She had me try them both on and run those same laps in both of them. The difference in both of these shoes versus the last pair I bought on my own at another athletic store were astounding. They really did match my stride perfectly.
I found the prices here to be only moderately higher than the sale price at some of the larger athletic stores, but in my view, these were eleven extra dollars well spent. You are spending that money on personal service, expert advice, and heck, even a little encouragement from folks who live, eat, and breathe this stuff. These aren't folks who walked on over from the shooting supplies department to help you, they're the folks you'll see alongside you at the starting line at Pat's Run this spring.
Runner's Den will absolutely have my business for as long as I'm pounding the pavement.
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