My running shoes cost how much?!?!

Oh the pain of shoe shopping in 2024!

dear everyone: pls stop walking around in your running shoes like they’re fa-shun. That’s me, and I’m wearing not-running-shoes.

If you’ve been following running shoes for the last decade or so, you will have noticed a steep — steep — upward trend in cost. Running shoes used to be ugly little chunky things, with lots of padding (or, when Nike invented it, air) that no one would be caught dead in outside of training. But then…something happened.

It could be many things, but I personally blame Silicon Valley’s obsession with performative causal wear. Whoever’s fault it was, somewhere around the time that Blair Waldorf screamed “Leggings are not pants!” across Madison Avenue (they are; sorry, B), running shoes started being a fashion statement. And they have never been the same. 

First, there’s a whole slew of shoes that are never meant to be run in but are marketed as such. I do not understand these shoes; I just loathe them. I also loathe the people who buy them, because the overall effect has been that significant untick in prices. It’s now very normal to only be able to find performance shoes at $110 or more, with the more serious ones coming in at $160 to $220. That’s…insane. I feel like shoe companies are trying to make running one of those sports with a bunch of gear; it is in their best interest, after all. But since running cannot be a sport with a bunch of gear, they have to jack up shoe prices as high as possible. All of which makes it much, much more important to find the right shoes. 

So in pursuit of finding the right pair, here are three things to seriously consider when buying new shoes. Hopefully these can help you get the right fit the first time around: 

It can be tough to sense this inward roll straight away, but if you concentrate on how your feet feel in the shoe, you can catch this design flaw before you invest miles in the shoe.

1. Look out for toe boxes that roll your feet in or out when you stand neutrally. Even a little bit can result in super painful IT band or iliopsoas irritation. No fun at all. 

   

   We are not on a rocking horse, shoe companies. Please.

2. Any shoe that rolls you from your heel to your toes when you’re standing will do the same thing when you’re running. Which is great if you’re a heel striker! But mid and forefoot strikers need to beware: these shoes can be super bouncy and fun, but the unnatural-to-you posture they’ll force you into will cause you pain up and down your back body, even into your trapezius. 

3. Any shoe that’s got great reviews on shoe blogs is a good place to start, but be sure to read the reviews from people who run about as much as you do in terms of mileage. With lots of these new shoes, the bounce and return is amazing at first, but quickly depletes. My latest pair of Asics, for example, have lost all their bounce only 50 miles in. They feel like the old school, super stiff Asics from like 2014 now. Since they cost about $180 dollars including shipping, I paid $3.60 per mile for these shoes. Horrible, and I’m super bitter about it. 

I’m getting some new Adidas in the mail soon, and I have high hopes they’ll be a neutral, bouncy, and long-lasting daily trainer for forefoot strikers. Right now, I’m back in my old shoes, and they are tired! 

It can be frustrating to get new shoes only to have them fail, but you’re definitely not the only one, and the best thing to do is just accept it and replace the shoes. New shoes are definitely cheaper than new knees or hips, so it’s worth it. 

If anyone’s got any recommendations for me, post them in the comments! I’m open to suggestions. And if you have any questions about shoes, let me know! Happy to help if I can. See you all again next week — hopefully in wonderful, new shoes — and for today, remember: go run.