Fila Running Shoes

Well good for you then.

If I were happy running 40 MPW, I'd care a lot less since damn near anything would work out just fine for me too. Experience has shown that's not the case when I try to run more than double that volume.

sjc wrote:

i would agree with everything you said except for pearl izumi being average and replicating. if anyone is pushing the envelope and using new ideas it is pearl izumi. they have a completely seamless upper (no other running shoe has this), don't use dual density foam (guide frame), and have a pretty sweet new cushioning material that will debut in their spring line of '08. all the other companies you mentioned are rather average and in fact i would consider a few of them to be quite rotten.

etonic does have one good shoe they make called the jepara.

The Etonic Jepara is basically the greatest shoe ever to be produced, Fila aint got nothing on it. I heard that Ritz trains in it on the underwater treadmill!!!

I'm guessing I averaged over 85 MPW last year (I don't indulge in running logs or mile counting, either). I met an old dude that was fit but never a "competitive" runner. He retired about 5 years ago and since that day running is his daily pastime. All day, every day. He is lithe as hell but too muscular to be called and ectomorph. He runs in the old fashioned rubber "flip flops", guesstimating that he travels over 200 MPW. Don't overestimate shoes. This guy can haul ass in those flip flops. No lie.

11 minutes now spent on shoe posting

So let me get this straight: you're suggesting you have a better handle on what I can run 80-100 MPW in, without injury and in comfort, than I do. Without even having met me or knowing anything about my experience beyond what I've posted?

You, sir, have a remarkable talent. And I must agree with your implicit self-criticism about logging the shoe-posting minutes (which is of course far nobler than logging miles; how gauche is that!) - with this kind of talent, you'd better stop wasting it on silly letsrun spats. You've got bigger fish to fry, plainly. Even if your talent doesn't generalize to other areas of human inquiry, at the very least you might become the world's preeminent online podiatrist. Custom orthotics made, no appointment necessary!

Get me off the pavement and exclusively on trails or grass, and I'll haul ass in flip flops too.

No need to call me "sir" just because I was running in the late 70's. I am not "talented". Just a 2:40 ish late 40's guy who runs a bit and donates time to kids who like to run. I don't "spat". I have no interest in suggesting anything to you as an individual running person. I just don't take running "gear" seriously, including the dreaded GPS. My silly example of the old guy who runs in flip flops (who is a really neat old guy, by the way) was just something I found interesting. The guy runs all day in flip flops...on asphalt (no trails around this area to speck of), why would that piss anyone off? I have no idea what you can run on or in. Are you a newer runner, trying to make up for lost time, juggling a career and high mileage like the rest of us? Does it make you angry that some average old man would make an observation that some people make too much of a fuss over shoes?

Drummers wrote: Are you a newer runner, trying to make up for lost time, juggling a career and high mileage like the rest of us?

Yes, that's me. To round out your picture, I'm fast approaching forty, used to smoke and was 45 pounds heavier before starting to run regularly 4.5 years ago.

Does it make you angry that some average old man would make an observation that some people make too much of a fuss over shoes?

Not angry exactly, let's say irritated by what comes off as arrogant dismissiveness. Sure, I could just murmur "asshat" under my breath and ignore you; but I'm curious what exactly drives you to keep at it.

Does it make you angry or uncomfortable or annoyed that some people talk about shoes and which ones feel good and work well for them, when you can run in any-old-thing - and obviously could ignore any old thread?

In my world there's an enormous difference between a few of us saying "model X shoes allow me to run 100 MPW in comfort and without injury" and all these fat old guys I see in the park who've spent thousands on their unobtainium-alloy cycles and dress up like superheroes. I'd agree they are making a bit of a fuss over gear, sure.

Hey, free country and all, but you bet I'm gonna privately snicker to myself.

Even then, I'm unlikely to seek them out on a cycling forum and thump my own chest while deriding them, because, dammit, I ride a 1986 ten speed in cutoffs and a tee shirt; and I once spotted an old geezer on a single speed girl's bike with high handlebars, riding buck nekkid.

And it's kinda hard for me to figure out why you would come on here and repeatedly insist that discussing shoes is silly, unless you're just doing the same thing the insecure young guys around here like to do when they start threads to howl at fatties, as one way for them to stroke their frail egos and think "hey, at least I'm better than someone."

But that's an awfully ungenerous view, and you're a grown man, and I'd love to hear your real reason(s) so that I can start thinking better of you.

Actually, I don't exist.

But I'm glad you quit smoking and started running. Good luck. You write well, too.

Drummers wrote: Good luck. You write well, too.

Well, thanks.

Just to complete the mildly nauseating love-fest (kids, look away!), I'd very much like to be running 2:40ish when I reach your advanced age. And I applaud anyone who "donates time to kids who like to run." Maybe some day I'll do the same.

P.S.