Doesn't all the over/under, neutral, motion-controlled, stability talk just make your head spin? Ugh, I find it does. And then I read Born to Run and alot of the ideas I'd had about the running shoe industry rang true. Think about it. Running shoes haven't decreased the number of running injuries, even though just about every kind of material type has been tried over the past 30 years to try and "help" our feet. Humans ran barefoot or in simple canvas shoes for thousands of years and we don't see hundreds of 50-something ex-runners hobbling around on wrecked knees.
When I first started running I read everything I could on running, convinced if I just found the "right" shoe my running injuries would be solved and my running would be faster and easier than ever. Well, after testing just about every type of running shoes brand out there I realize one thing about the running shoe industry-it's a sham. They come out with new versions of their shoes every 6 months claiming they are somehow better than their 6 month old brother. Are they? Most often not.
I never found that "it" shoe that I was searching for. From the articles I had read I should be in motion-controlled shoes but they only hurt my feet. To heck with all this I decided. In fact, on a lark I decided to try minimalist running. Thinking that if I strengthened my feet it wouldn't matter what shoe I wore. Well, by running in minimalist shoes (Vibram Sprints for me), my feet have become stronger and running more enjoyable. My running injuries no longer exist and I actually enjoy running more. So my advice would be to throw out all that over/under pronation mumbo-gumbo out the window and embrace what you (and us all) were evolved to run on-our feet.
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