Overuse injuries can happen no matter what shoes you wear, but if you’re not going overtraining & have never really had many leg, foot, back, butt or other ailments, you’ve probably got the right shoes on your feet.
In other words: You know you have the right shoe for you if you remain pretty-much injury free.
For me, for about a decade now, that’s been Saucony brand shoes. Specifically, the Saucony Grid Jazz line which offers a cushioned ride for a neutral runner. They come up with a new Grid Jazz every year (so, it must be a good seller for them) and this means I can usually find previous year’s models on the clearance racks for $50 to $60 a pair.
This time out, I made the mistake of thinking all Saucony’s are alike and just ordered the shoe in my price range, not especially paying attention to the description. I bought the Saucony Grid Shadow 2.
As soon as I opened the shoes, I knew I’d made a mistake. The sole was very flat and felt very hard.
When I ran in them in the morning, I could hear my feet hitting the pavement (clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk) which is something that is out of character for my running style (some people do just have a naturally heavy footfall, but I never have).
Still, they were my new shoes and I’d paid a lot for them (by my cheap-o standards), so I kept running in them.
Last week, I had to take a few days off running because I was having back problems that I thought were caused by a hard run on Wednesday morning. I hobbled around, half hunched-over for a couple of days.
Leering of running 9 miles in the hard shoes, I ran Sunday’s 15K in my old Saucony Cohesion cushioned shoes. I had no back problems that night. No hobbling around…just the usual sore hamstrings and quads.
So, Tuesday, I ran on the treadmill (darn rain) in my new hard shoes and, wouldn’t you know it, I’m hobbling around with back pain today.
That’s when if finally dawned on me — It’s the shoes!
I should’ve known better. I’ve done this before.
I ordered my trusty Cohesion’s last night.
Another lesson expensive lesson learned (again).
