New Pink Brooks.

Shoes are not my thing. I have maybe one pair of heels I bought years ago and one pair of flats.  I  do own multiple pairs of flip flops and slippers (or as Ryan calls them -- my hipster shoes). I also hate most shoe shopping, but when it comes to running shoes, I make an exception. 

Ever since I have run seriously, I have always run in Brooks. Always. I don't think I will ever run in anything else. I first fell in love with them when I went to The Running Co. in Princeton, NJ during one of my breaks in college. Before that I had always been a fan of "whatever feels good and is on sale". During college I started running more seriously and by the time I came home from break, my shoes were ripping apart. My mom, sister, and I went to The Running Co. where a nice girl put me on a treadmill and told me to run while she watched me. Within less than 2 minutes she had taken down two pair of shoes for me to try. I put the first ones (Brooks -- can't remember the model) on and fell in love. It was like they were made to fit my feet and only my feet and they were light as a feather. Ever since that day I've run in Brooks. I hear very good things about other companies (for example my brother is like I am and ONLY runs in Mizunos), but I have my favourite and to them I am loyal.

My current shoes have far passed their date of being good to run in. I tend to run more than the recommended several hundred miles before buying new ones. As I have not been running as much recently, I've definitely pushed that limit a bit farther.

Today my gorgeous new Brooks PureCadence shoes arrived. They were a birthday gift from my brother (thanks Stephen!!!). My sibbies & mom have a really good "track" record of getting me very good fitness related gifts for my birthday and Christmas. They first introduced me to the Nike+ several years ago to track my running, and I would say have provided me with 1/3 of my current workout clothes and shoes :-)

Beautiful Brooks.

Aren't they just gorgeous?! I love the colour pink for running shoes. Given that I have a lot of black non-bold workout clothes, I think they are perfect.

I wore them to the gym tonight and they are just amazing. They are super lightweight and they have really good cushioning. I am an overpronator (I roll towards the inside of my foot when I step) because I have such flat feet. If I do the wet test where you put your foot in water and then step on a sheet of paper, the whole surface area of my foot is on the paper. I am the leftmost one below.

That said, I typically have to have a very cushioned shoe or a stability shoe for running. Usually, stability shoes are heavier than neutral shoes because they need extra material for cushioning. However, Brooks manages to make one hell of a lightweight shoe with a lot of stability.

Ready for a run and back day!

Ok, I promise that's as much as you'll ever hear me talk about shoes. I just kinda like them. A lot!

Pink shoes on a beat up T-bar row.

I also like back day. A lot. :-)