I bought some new shoes to compliment my new running program. Some of my runner friends told me to go to Road Runners in Falls Church to be fitted for shoes. I have never been fitted for shoes before, but this was the coolest thing I’ve ever done associated with exercise. They call it, The Shoe Dog.

It took about an hour, and my salesperson/shoe expert was delightful and helpful. He started by having me run in my bare feet on a treadmill while he videoed my feet from behind. Then he had me step on this pad, once with my right foot and back with my left foot, to capture what I am calling a “radar” image of my foot. The radar image showed the shape of my arch and how I am distributing weight across my foot when I take a step. The video of my bare feet running on the treadmill showed if my feet were rotating in or out while running and some other technical foot stuff I can’t quite remember. All in all this was really cool and I had fun learning more about my foot, which turned out to be pretty normal, medium arch and no strong rotation.

After trying on Nikes, Brooks, and Asics, I settled on the Asics. I really loved the gel cushioning in the shoe. My salesperson/shoe expert recommended a shoe with slight arch support so I got that too.

The next morning I woke up very excited to try out the shoes, went for an early run, and found that the shoes made ALL THE DIFFERENCE. If it were not for my hip tendinitis, I probably could’ve run faster and longer than I did. I am really glad I went to Road Runners and let the Shoe Dog fetch me a fine pair of Asics. A good decision indeed.

Oh, I also got these cool moisture wicking socks…