Want a Better Running Shoe? The LRC Running Shoe Survey Is Here

Go to the RRCA website. They have reproduced all the Long Distance Logs, going back to 1956!!!

Many thanks to them for that.

Go to the 1960-1969 lists. Select one edition and go to the back page, where you will see the Ancient and Honorable Onituska Tiger classic shoe ads. You pretty much had to buy shoes via the mail back then.

(Disregard the prices; all sub $20))

Bring back the TG-22 and the Nimbus and the G-9 et al. ANY OF THOSE WOULD BE FINE WITH ME.

Thank you.

I'm not allowed to train for a 4 hour marathon?

For marathon time, 7 was in there twice, but no 4 under the hours list.

zee shoe guy wrote:

erik wrote:

We mean the technical shoe width...

But that's one of the many ways this is flawed.

I just filled out the survey for you. From what I told you, I run 50 mpw, have a neutral midfoot stride, and wear the Pegasus. How does that information really help anyone? Others in my club who have the same type of stride and footstrike use the Adidas Boost, the Asics Excel33, the Brooks Glycerin, and the Asics GT-2000 (not even a neutral shoe!).

So you'd have five similar people recommending five different shoes. That's not helpful at all.

they take this info and get money for every survey. that is how it is helpful.... for them....

erik wrote:

rucker wrote:

done

but

when you ask for running shoe width - do you mean is the shoe literally a B or D or EE or are you asking if I have a narrow or wide foot?

We mean the technical shoe width, but we left out the letters because they mean different things for men and women.

MEN WOMEN

n/a 2A NARROW

NARROW B STANDARD

STANDARD D WIDE

WIDE 2E EXTRA WIDE

EXTRA WIDE 4E n/a

Not only does that mean different things for men and women, it means a different thing from what everybody who speaks English considers "width". Those designations are actually for volume, as a 2E "wide" shoe is in fact no wider than the D "standard" size.

The reason the "system is broken" when it comes to finding the right shoe is that there is no standards when it comes to actual shoe width, shoe volume and shoe length. If an independent third party were taking care of all that then people would have precise and accurate data points to judge what sort of shoe is best for them.

As it is, this exercise is largely a waste of time on the part of Letsrun.com, although I applaud making an effort.

It's great that some of you can go to the local shoe store and try a pair on.

Getting a pair of 9.5 4E shoes that aren't designed for a quadrapelegic generally requires me to mail order from NB in vancouver 3000km from here.

The local shops only stock 2E, have no idea if the 4e's are going to fit and are happy to bring them for a hefty restocking fee.

In order to get real running shoes mail order is a requirement for many of us.

That said shoe surveys don't help those really help us on the margins as the majority simply don't have our issues.

If there is one pair of shoes on the market that fits me I am generally thrilled else I have to go looking for previous years shoes to get a good fit.

You guys that get to pick colour, flats, trainers, cleats, road shoes make me envious.

4E only designates volume, not width. Therefore, all you have to do is cut the front 2-3 inches out of the upper such that you are toes are exposed. Voila, instant 4E shoe made out any shoe available.

The survey only allow me to list one type of shoe. I use several pairs, which one you want me to fill survey with?! I am not going to fill one for each pair I have.

Any scientific study is required to disclose conflicts of interest, sources of funding, etc. Is LetsRun monetizing this study in any way, as in selling the results or conducting it on behalf of a shoe company?

One has to believe LetsRun is being paid to conduct this survey for a shoe company. There are better ways to go about getting data than a LetsRun forum. You're trying to herd cats here.

I would suggest your time would be better spent on trying to raise funds by managing your site better and generating better content, not wasting time (yours and others) by putting a substandard survey in front of a bunch of generally elitist runners.

I would suggest a more productive survey would be who is the hottest professional babe or dude runners...

Jim Peters ran in plain sneakers.

4+ hours wrote:

I'm not allowed to train for a 4 hour marathon?

For marathon time, 7 was in there twice, but no 4 under the hours list.

Just looked at the survey, ya'll still need to fix the hours drop down (1, 2, 3, 7, 5, 6, 7....)

Here's the challenge I see with this survey. I'm a old slow hobby jogger.... but everyone here BQs with ease, makes $500K... you really want us to attach our LRC usernames with our training?!?!

Next time I post, someone will look me up in the shoe survey and say "heck no I don't take you seriously, you are a 4hr marathoner! (or 7 hr, since there are no 4 hrs) Its all the same when you're not sub 3, right?! ;)

I like the concept, really I do! And it would be interesting insight into the site demographics. are there enough other masters hobby joggers on here that we'd have enough data to be useful? Or is this site all high schoolers and basement dwellers?

Exactly--In fact, I don't know a single runner who runs in only one shoe, not that they own a closetful of Newtons or Hokas, but most at least have a training and racing shoe.

Pointless survey if it doesn't include information on how the shoe fits.

I'm ashamed to admit it but I might have 20 pairs of shoes lying around. Why not start categories, trail, racing flat, tempo/speedwork trainer, recovery run etc.? And then perhaps encourage runners to start with their favorite shoe across all categories?

Wejo, I love this project. Please keep it up. If nothing else I like being able to read reviews from my running peers about the shoes. When I go to most other sites I get a review like, "My son loves the shoe. He says the colors are his favorite. He walks everywhere in them." Useless. The reviews on RunningWarehouse come closer to being informative, but aren't accessible once the shoe is no longer sold there and they don't take any kind of metrics. Personally, I think you should pursue this shoe review site passionately, because with the right widgets and partnerships this could end up being your best source of revenue here.

So along with this new big push you're going to be adding a lot of shoes to your database. Immediately notice ambiguity with one of my favorite running shoes -- the adidas Adios. They originally came out in this order:

adidas Adizero Adios 1.0

adidas Adizero Adios 2.0

adidas Adios Boost 1.0

adidas Adios Boost 2.0

But the shoe site now gives details of the Boost versions for each of these shoes when you go to look at reviews for the Adizero versions. The result is you're getting mixed reviews that depending on the context won't clearly describe whether it's the Adizero or Boost version. Your dropdown/database needs four entries for these shoes instead of two.

It makes me curious. What happens when somebody writes a review for a shoe under "other." Does this get put into a miscellaneous pile and then you later have to manually assign the shoe, presumably after you create a dropdown/database entry for it?

Whenever I fill out a shoe review I get this nervous feeling as if I'm only allowed to write one review and I'm replacing its entry every time. In other words, the site focuses on asking about my "current running shoe" and "previous running shoe." I understand the importance of the compare/contrast niche you're trying to create, but this repeated wording throughout the site discourages the user from feeling confident leaving multiple reviews. I mean I run in probably 5+ shoes at any given time and rotate them for different purposes. Prior to those 5+ shoes in my rotation I ran in 5+ other different shoes. I mean I could spend like an hour or two just writing reviews on my last year of shoes alone and really populate this database for you. In good faith I'll say which shoe replaced which shoe as best I can, but I'd feel more comfortable if it was clear that all my entries will be included in the database.

What happens after I submit a review? Does it go directly into the database as a new entry? Does it require approval before it is added? How long does it take for one to be added? If it requires approval, how thorough is the quality control?

Penultimately, I just want to re-emphasize that I think the written reviews are going to be the most helpful thing here and simply because it's written by our running peers. Like you've said we can look up the detail of the shoe elsewhere. The value of your site is going to be that we can come get a better perspective of the shoe we've identified before we pull the trigger.

Lastly, this all points to what I see as being one flaw with the site. Most people run in a "current" shoe that they think is good. Few people would continue to run in a shoe that they believe is bad. This means that I think there will be a natural bias for people to report their current shoe as better than their previous shoe (I believe you can quickly run a report that will confirm this). Taking this one step further it means that the shoes with the most reviews are most likely to rise above the rest. Look at the Pegasus 31 and Pegasus 30. This site would lead you to believe they are godly. The reality is that half the people reviewing the Pegasus 30 were probably issued them by their university and wore them as their current shoe. That inflated the number of reviews and showed a natural bias for the shoes over whatever previous shoe was worn. Then something funny happened. The Pegasus 31 replaced the Pegasus 30, was issued, and became their current shoe. As far as database metrics are concerned the shoe became even more godly.

So then I'm sad when the main page of the shoe site lists shoes by "popularity" and it's by review quantity. Of course the Pegasus is at the top -- it's the most issued shoe to university runners. Once you get more reviews I'd like to see that list replaced by a list of the highest "rating" shoes with some rational qualifiers like it being based on 1) a minimum of 50+ reviews and 2) the shoe being less than a couple of years old (so that it can still be purchased).

TLDR:

1) Shoe names and reviews overlapping, such as with the Adios.

2) Alter tone to encourage mass reviewing and not just current vs previous.

3) De-emphasize popularity based on review quantity; the whole point of the site is to find out the best quality shoe.