New runing shoes

I went to Fleet Feet tonight and finally bought this year's pair of running shoes. I tried on, probably, 7 different pairs from various manufacturers including Saucony, New Balance, Brooks, Mizuno and settled on the Asics Gel-DS Trainer 13 in White/Liquid Silver/Lime color.

They do a great job at Feet Fleet. I got a free video fitting analysis where they make you run on a treadmill and they capture a few seconds of your running on video and then loop it in slow motion on a big screen for you. Since I'm a video nerd I have to describe: it was shot standard definition on a cheapo home camcorder, firewire connected to a windows laptop running some kind of software that I didnt remember, then played back on a big ceiling-mounted hidef screen driven by the laptop as an external display.

I got great advice from the girl who attended to me. She just graduated from Loyola and ran in college (and is looking for a 2:50 marathon time this year in chicago!!). Her professional recommendations made me feel like I was making an informed decision, and then I asked her for her personal opinion. Ironically the brand that she loves were, by far, the best fitting shoe I tried on. Despite not letting her personal opinion into my decision, it was really coincidentally the best shoe.

The Asics Gel-DS Trainer 13 shoes have an asymmetrical lacing, also called an asymmetrical upper, that really follows the natural line of the ridge of your foot, which I think is a no-brainer and wonder why it's not done more, and they are very svelte, weighing in at 9.5 grams (each or for the pair, I don't know).

I regret not trying on the Zoot shoes, because I really like their clothing. I should consider them for my second pair (buddy Joe heard from another friend of his who ran a marathon that long-distance runners are behooved (pun intended) to buying a second pair, so they vary the wear and tear on their bone structure).

I however do not regret not trying Nike or Addidas because I dislike Nikes clothing engineering and wanted to get a little more serious and I think Addidas has this homeboy, 'round the way, soccer/basketball kind of feel to it sometimes and blah blah blah bad reasons not to buy a particular brand blah blah blah marketing blah.