Shoes & Stoicism

Shoes are everything, including a philosophical expression, and I'm not kidding

Just a casual photo of the three pairs of shoes I have hanging around my house right now. Unpictured: the freshies still in their box, waiting to be needed.

Recently, we went deep on the relationship you build with your mind and body and how doing that work is not only for you but also for the ones you love. This week, let's talk practically about the equipment that can help you focus on that work: your shoes.

Shoes can be thought of as the primary tool with which you practice running and, therefore, stoicism. One of the best parts of using running as an expression and exploration of stoicism is that it’s a very lightweight sport in terms of gear, but it’s not entirely without its props. And this is fine; even Cleanthes had his water jugs, after all.

It’s tough to embody a philosophy for living without any gear at all; for that type of practice, one usually needs to eschew most of society, as some religious folks do. And if that’s your jam, go for it, but that’s not stoicism. In stoicism, we seek lightness, but not nothingness. To reject daily life and the tools that help us in it is to avoid those challenges, and avoidance of challenges is anathema to stoics. Avoidance renounces our obligations to our bodies, loved ones, and community.

The trick is to not have so much gear that it starts to distract you. If you’re only running 5 miles in moderate weather on moderate terrain, you probably don’t need a water bottle belt. On the other hand, if those 5 miles are at altitude or over a desert, bring what you need! Stoicism is about using the right gear at the right amount; not overloading yourself or eschewing it all together. 

All that being said, tl/dr: for runners:

Shoes are everything.

They are! They can make or break a run or an entire training regime; take the time to get the right ones. There are two parts to this:

1. Understanding your posture

2. Changing your shoes regularly. 

To understand your posture, you’ll need to either enlist a friend or film yourself running. I recommend having your friend or filming from the front, back, and each side, to ensure you get a good idea about how you run. Are you a heel striker? Toe? Do you pull back when you run? Do you sag forward? You will be able to determine all of these things just by looking, even if you’re not an experienced athlete. 

Once you have an idea of what your posture is like, head to a local running shop. The staff there can also watch you run, give their opinion, and, most importantly, point you to the brand and model of shoes that might work best for you. Shoe brands change their models all the time, which is incredibly annoying, so even if one model worked for you a year ago, try them on to make sure they haven’t shifted designs in a way that’s not your style. Don't be shy to try a bunch of brands and models before buying; shoes are both an important and expensive purchase!

Point (2) is pretty obvious: you need to change your shoes, a lot. I change mine about every 4-5 months, no matter how many miles are on them. Why? Because those synthetic materials they all have lose their structural integrity fast. Even if the shoes are just sitting around, they start to warp and they deteriorate with moisture, heat, and dryness. 

I also started changing my shoes frequently back when I was in middle school and I kept puncturing the original Air Max. Aside from getting Nike’s attention, which was cool, I learned then that my shoes were flattening much faster than I thought they were; the frequency of the changes allowed me to perceive that, when I would normally have just gotten used to the flatness. Although shoes have improved since then, I’m still running twenty five years later, with only one major injury under my belt. I’ve been lucky, but I also know that changing my shoes has saved me a lot of pain and injury recoveries.

Soles

Speaking of brands changing their designs and avoiding injury, let’s talk about the bounce. Specifically, I want to focus on the really light, flat shoes, marketed as fitting in a way that mimics barefoot running. Admittedly, these do work for some people, and that’s great for them, but if you’ve tried these and the experience was less than thrilling, you’re not alone! There are good reasons for this:

1. Readers of this Substack: you have always worn shoes.
   Like, your whole life. Chances are, your parents put shoes on you even before you could walk. You are not a person adapted to walking around barefoot, so embrace life in this way, as you have probably in so many other ways. 

2. You probably run on concrete, at least sometimes.
   If you’re like me, you run on concrete most of the time. Concrete is hard, and your feet are not. So a shoe designed to barely cover your bare feet will do you no good. Get a shoe that can stand up to the surfaces you run on. 

3. You probably want to change your shoes regularly (see above) but you don’t want to change up your shoes weekly.
   And that’s about the lifespan of many of these shoes, if you want to feel any bounce across miles on hard surfaces. They wear out quickly, and they fall apart as well. 

Clearly, I’m not a fan of super thin-soled shoes. These days, I love the thick soles of an ASICS or even a Brooks. I’m not a high mileage runner, nor am I very heavy, but I do need my shoes to hold up to forefoot striking for many miles. I neither want to hurt my feet nor punish my wallet too often in my pursuit of the perfect shoe. So if you run on concrete or only have/want to have the budget to replace your shoes two or three times per year, I definitely recommend a thicker sole. Bonus: you'll get a nice surprise if you have lightweight race shoes: the difference in weight will make you feel super fast, come race time.

Lacing: Practical, Not Decorative

Moving up from the sole of your shoes, let’s talk about lacing.

You don’t have to lace your shoes symmetrically, because your feet are almost definitely not symmetrical.

My left and right feet are shaped differently, so I don't lace the same way on both. On my left foot, I almost always have to lace up to the extra eye, otherwise the shoe slips off my foot, a recipe for blisters. On my right foot, I only lace up through the end of the normal row of eyelets.

If you're noticing one shoe feeling different from the other, experiment with your lacing. There are tons of YouTube tutorials on lacing; some more for looks than others, but if one that looks cool also solves a fit problem for you, you should go for it! Feet are shaped funny, so there’s no sense in taking a one size fits all (sorry for the pun) approach to lacing

Overall Fit

Finally, on fit. Here’s the key:

Craft the fit you like, not the fit anyone tells you that you should have.

Perfect example: I hate feeling my feet slide around, so I buy shoes a half size smaller than recommended. Then, I don't wear socks when I run. That means my shoes are basically molded to my feet. I love it.

But speaking of mold: wondering how my shoes don't become super smelly? I learned years ago that if I store them where the air can circulate all around them and stuff cedar chip bags into them every night, they last as long as I want them to last (which, to review, is four to five months). Every shoe store fitter I’ve been to tries to tell me my shoes are too small, but for them, they’re not. A tight fit is just what I want. Figure out what works for you and just go for it, no matter what the general advice is.

Thanks for following me on this journey and please like and subscribe so you never miss a post. See you all on the socials next week. For today, remember: go run.