Dear Runner's Gait,
I am writing in somewhat belatedly to thank one of your staff members - I think his name is James.
A couple of months ago I wandered randomly into your store for a new pair of trainers, and James very patiently helped me try on eight pairs. Eight. EIGHT!!! (It's lucky, right?) I felt like Goldilocks (too hard, too soft, too...erm... too tippy, too high, too hard, too soft, just right) or Cinderella ('if the shoe fits...').
Finally I settled on this pair of Saucony Fastwitch 5. (They're red - that should do for Chinese New Year shopping. I did wear them for the first run of the Chinese New Year. Which did not appease my mother at all.)
As we already know, I like being able to feel the ground (check), and I am the Switzerland of neutral runners (check).
It turns out Saucony apparently thinks these are a racing flat. I don't. They're not flat. But then I'm not fast either...
(Funny story. I just bought a new running shirt. It's black and says 'FAST' on the front in an alarming shade of pink. I don't think I deserve to wear it yet, so it's sitting in my closet gathering dust.)
I had a few niggling doubts about this pair of shoes at first. Not as low to the ground as my Minimuses/minimi/ minimodes. Not as plush and cushiony as my Nikes. A little hard and bouncy. But after Sunday's triathlon I think James made the right call - I think they're finally broken in. On the run leg, my shoes and I managed to pass - I think - every woman in my category who was a passable distance in front of me. (That's about five women over 5 km. Also some men who were walking - what were you doing?!?!?!?)
I'm still a slowpoke but I'll be doing nearly all of my marathon training (except for the longest weekend runs - need a bit more cushion for that) in these.
See you on the trails,
G.C
PS please give James a promotion.
PPS or at least a medal for persistence. But watch out: I'll be back for new shoes. He might want to hide.
Workouts this week. Marathon training week 1: upping the mileage a little.
Sunday: TRI day. 750m swim (terrible), 20km bike ride (terrible), and 5km run (29:23), dawdling through transition, going the wrong way to run out and turning around to run out another way. Pro-tip: Do not train for a tri by spending 3 months chickening out of swim training, cycling only twice, and doing no bricks ever.
Monday: 7.5km recovery run
Tuesday: Speedwork: 2km at 2:15, 1.6km at 2:10-2:12, 1.2km at 2:05, 400m (1:57). Total incl warm-up 6km.
Wednesday: easy day. 9.5km/ 59:15
I am writing in somewhat belatedly to thank one of your staff members - I think his name is James.
A couple of months ago I wandered randomly into your store for a new pair of trainers, and James very patiently helped me try on eight pairs. Eight. EIGHT!!! (It's lucky, right?) I felt like Goldilocks (too hard, too soft, too...erm... too tippy, too high, too hard, too soft, just right) or Cinderella ('if the shoe fits...').
Finally I settled on this pair of Saucony Fastwitch 5. (They're red - that should do for Chinese New Year shopping. I did wear them for the first run of the Chinese New Year. Which did not appease my mother at all.)
As we already know, I like being able to feel the ground (check), and I am the Switzerland of neutral runners (check).
It turns out Saucony apparently thinks these are a racing flat. I don't. They're not flat. But then I'm not fast either...
(Funny story. I just bought a new running shirt. It's black and says 'FAST' on the front in an alarming shade of pink. I don't think I deserve to wear it yet, so it's sitting in my closet gathering dust.)
I had a few niggling doubts about this pair of shoes at first. Not as low to the ground as my Minimuses/minimi/ minimodes. Not as plush and cushiony as my Nikes. A little hard and bouncy. But after Sunday's triathlon I think James made the right call - I think they're finally broken in. On the run leg, my shoes and I managed to pass - I think - every woman in my category who was a passable distance in front of me. (That's about five women over 5 km. Also some men who were walking - what were you doing?!?!?!?)
I'm still a slowpoke but I'll be doing nearly all of my marathon training (except for the longest weekend runs - need a bit more cushion for that) in these.
See you on the trails,
G.C
PS please give James a promotion.
PPS or at least a medal for persistence. But watch out: I'll be back for new shoes. He might want to hide.
Workouts this week. Marathon training week 1: upping the mileage a little.
Sunday: TRI day. 750m swim (terrible), 20km bike ride (terrible), and 5km run (29:23), dawdling through transition, going the wrong way to run out and turning around to run out another way. Pro-tip: Do not train for a tri by spending 3 months chickening out of swim training, cycling only twice, and doing no bricks ever.
Monday: 7.5km recovery run
Tuesday: Speedwork: 2km at 2:15, 1.6km at 2:10-2:12, 1.2km at 2:05, 400m (1:57). Total incl warm-up 6km.
Wednesday: easy day. 9.5km/ 59:15
I think that I, too, chatted with James the day I went in there. My discussion with him was quite reassuring and encouraging, leading me to believe that RG is a good place to send new runners for sneakers.
ReplyDeleteI do think that any shoe store worth its name will employ people who genuinely want customers fitted into the correct shoe, whatever it takes. [And I am tainted by a US definition of customer service, but I don't care.].
Glad you got the right sneakers for you - hope they continue to hold up well as your training (!!!) continues.