Fifty shoes and nothing to wear

Tag : shoes
Whether a necessity or not, different sports all have their ownperformance shoe. There are cleats for most outdoor turfactivities, indoor sneakers, court shoes, climbing and hikingboots, cross-trainers, running shoes, and so on and so forth. Allof these offer benefits that can aid performance.
Of course, with so many sports and so many different styles ofshoes to choose from, there will invariably be fierce competitionbetween shoe brands. I believe it's my duty as a shoe lover to dishout the lowdown on the best shoes to buy for the big shoe sports.
Let's start with running. This is, I believe, the most standardreason for needing an athletic shoe. Everyone has running shoes.But that also means this genre of shoe has the largest number ofcompeting brands, including Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance,Mizuno, Brooks and Puma. But what are the good runners buying?
The answer is a tie between Asics and New Balance. The bottom linewith running shoes is that they must fit well. Appearances won'tmatter if you're tired and on the last leg of a 5K run. This ispartially why Nike and Adidas don't perform as well on consumerreports. Their research facilities are geared toward brand imageand appearance, rather than construction.
With that being said, you should also take into consideration howmany miles you run in a week. According to my running roommate,Nike shoes die more gradually, whereas Asics hit their endimmediately. If you run more than 20 to 40 miles a week, it mightbe to your benefit to choose a shoe that will wear out gradually.This gives you time to find a replacement when it's necessarily.
The next major shoe sport would be tennis. Next to runners, tennisplayers take the most pounding in their legs from competition,especially in their knees. That's going to require some extracushion and the perfect fit.
The biggest thing with tennis shoes is stability. There is a greatdeal of shifting weight and changing direction in tennis, so a widerange of sizes, widths, heights and weights must be available inany given brand.
For this I recommend either Wilson or Penn shoes. They have been,and continue to be, the major tennis shoe manufacturers in thebusiness, despite Nike and Adidas' efforts to cut into the market.K-Swiss has made similar efforts, with Anna Kournikova as theirspokeswoman. But Wilson and Penn devote all their time totennis-related research, offering a wider range of variety forcustomers and their variable foot shapes.
Last, and probably the biggest sport in terms of shoe endorsements,is basketball. I don't play basketball, but according to salesreports and consumer surveys, the winner here is undoubtedly Nike.
This is essentially their flagship for shoes. Nike shocks havebecome as famous as Air Jordans. Pivoting and shifting directionsare the key movements to the sport. This means your shoe needs tobe higher and more protective of the ankle area.
Also important is that the shoe be built to absorb pressure fromthe frequent jumping and landing. This is what the shocks weremarketed around, but essentially any added padding or springloading in the sole will accomplish the same thing. Adidascurrently has its own version of the Nike Shocks for sale.
Shopping for athletic shoes is expensive. There's no doubt aboutthat. But if a certain sport is important to you and you playcompetitively, the returns are worth the cost. Not having the rightshoe can make an athlete tire earlier, generate blisters and sores,or injure their ankles, knees and back.
So shop smart. Undertake some research to figure out which brandsoffer what and why and how the shoe feels to you. Because no matterwhat myself or consumer reports or advertisements claim, whatmatters is how the shoe feels on your foot.
If, while competing, you forget you're wearing shoes and don'tswell after competition, you're on the right track and should staythere. If not, it's time to enjoy the benefits of a well-chosenathletic shoe.
Staff Writer Jana Miller can be reached at 429-7380 or jmiller@heritage.com .