Cardiff Half Marathon

HOW TO FIND THE CORRECT SHOE FOR YOU

The Lloyds Bank Cardiff Half Marathon may be your first ever half marathon or running event, so you may be thinking about buying your first pair of running shoes – which can be a daunting prospect.  There are an increasing number of different brands, styles, colours and shapes all vying for your attention and wanting to be the ones that take you all the way to a new marathon p.b., or even just once around the block for the very first time.  However, not all of them will be right for you.

Specialist running shops are a useful place to start.  They have more running shoes than anywhere else and, more importantly, can tell you all sorts of useful things about the shoes themselves and about the way you run.

We all have a particular running style, a sort of movement signature, called our gait.  It’s different for everybody and has a big effect when we run.

During the gait cycle most feet roll inwards.  This movement is known as pronation and helps the body attenuate the impact forces of landing.  It’s a good thing.  Excessive inward movement is called over-pronation and inhibits this capability.  These feet tend to need more support in the shoes to encourage your feet and lower limbs to move in a more biomechanically efficient manner and help reduce injuries.

A specialist running shop with their specialist knowledge can narrow down the choices based on your individual gait.  They assess the amount of support you need and offer enough guidance so all you have to do is choose the shoes that are most comfortable and feel right for you.

However pretty or gaudy they might be, we always recommend going with comfort over style for your running shoes. They might look like the interior of a neon ballroom but a few runs will soon muddy them a dirty brown and no one will ever know how they looked when you first started out round the block.

You can see the full range of Brooks shoes at www.brooksrunning.co.uk

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