Clothes Don't Make The Man

As clothes don't make the man, neither do shoes make a runner. Yet, I have felt lately that running shoes do affect my running even if only on a psychological level. I find myself drooling over pages of shoe specs and descriptions.

Some manufacturers claim that the extra support of their shoe will make you run like the wind, others make an about face stating the less support the better and some demand that barefoot is the answer to all our running prayers.


When I was younger I pestered my Mother to buy me PF Flyers. The TV advertisement guaranteed that it was like running with wings on your shoes......well back then they were called sneakers and actually I didn't even run back then so why I needed a pair does not make sense, but I suppose I was thinking if I had a pair and needed to run for some reason, I could run real fast.

Now that I think of it, I also wanted a pair of bell bottom pants which would be counteractive to flying shoes as they would act more like a parachute. I didn't get the flying sneakers, but I did get the bell bottoms so I guess it worked out.

So anyway......to get back on the subject, about a month ago I bought a pair of NB Minimus and I love them...then last night I got a pair of X-Talon 212 .....I ran in them immediately and I loved them.

I also signed up for the L L Bean 10k and will be getting a new pair of 1064s. My old 1062s only have about 200 miles on them and are still in good shape. I suspect I don't really need a new pair but I still want them. The 212s will be replacing my Cascadia 4s (528 miles) which actually still look quite new and seem to have plenty of miles left in them.

I also have a pair of New Balance 572s which are very similar to the Cascadias and those have less miles than the Brooks but look much older. I bought a pair of New balance 621 trail shoes and they are OK but really not as good as the 572s

To round off the list of shoes I have acquired and really like, the North face XCR 103s, which I use with screws for winter trail running, Brooks T3 and T4 road racers, all of my new balance 700 series 762,63,64,65,66, ( didn't buy the 67 or 68s), Nike 180,180+ and Nike Zoom air (I think the word zoom got me.) All of these have hundreds of miles on them.

It hasn't been a smooth ride though as I bought as many that I didn't like or didn't work well .....NB Mt800(hated these), Loco Curumba, Nike air Pegasus, Puma spikes,Nike air spikes, Nike air 2.5 (not sure what the 2.5 means unless it relates to how many miles you run before you realize you hate them.)

The point is, I started thinking about this and became some what embarrassed......I know women who have less shoes than me and my wife the other day mentioned I should buy one of those big shoe racks to put my running shoes on.

I have 16 pairs of "active" runners and a lot more that have been put on the inactive list, yet I keep them "just in case" I guess for emergencies? In case all my active shoes have previous engagements or are too tired to go out for a run?

To give myself some credit, I do not buy sneakers for other uses, my older ones migrate down from runners to the shoes guest use when they forgot their runners,then to the workout room, then to everyday walkers, then lawn mowing and finally dirty outside work.

What does this all mean? Who knows, All I know is I am happy as hell and anxiously waiting to christen my new X-talon 212s in a muddy romping run!! Biting at the bit to try the Minmus at Pineland and ready to put the Northface screw shoes away for the season. Even if shoes don't make the runner, I sure look good in the 212s