Do you recall the great old running shoes of the 70's?

No.

The old Nikes: these were white racing flats with the white swoosh, white on white, circa 1971-2. I have never noticed anyone here ever making reference to them. Does anyone recall the model?

they were commonly known as plimsoles with a bit of paint spilt on them

Here's what I remember about running shoes from the 70's:

They were always too narrow, didn't have enough padding, and made my feet hurt.

So, in answer to the question, no.

I remember running in Adidas' Runners because John Walker wore them. What did we know then? Lots of mileage in them - but kind of hard, blocky and heavy.

And it is hard to get nostalgic about running shoes. The shoes today are such superior products when compared to the stuff available in the 70's that is silly. I run in Brooks Glycerins now - a great product - but also intuit that there are number of other great products out there, too - which bluntly make Adidas' Runners look and feel like Keds.

They weren't so great.

Ivory wrote:

The old Nikes: these were white racing flats with the white swoosh, white on white, circa 1971-2. I have never noticed anyone here ever making reference to them. Does anyone recall the model?

Those were before my time. I ran in these my senior year...CHECK THESE OUT:

My frosh-Jr years I ran in the Oregon Waffles (Yellow w/ green swoosh)

Those 'great' shoes help end my semi-serious running. No, I do not miss them and I wish that we had the current crop back in the day.

Favorites from the 70s were the old Tiger Boston and Nylon Cortez/Corsair. By the end of the decade Tiger had the Moscow which I really liked and the Brooks John Walker shoe is my all time favorite.

HRE wrote:

Brooks John Walker shoe is my all time favorite.

Very nice! I was talking about these the other day; Brooks RT-1 John Walker. At the time, 1979 I believe, they were $52 and much more expensive than anything else but fit great, were fairly light with decent cushioning.

Back in those days I really believe there was less injuries per 1000miles run or whatever measure you want to use. Nobody had plantar trouble back then. I think most of today's shoes are overprotecting leading to weak feet and injuires. No wonder there is such a big move to training in less of a shoe like flats.

My other favorite from that era was the waffle trainer. I think Nike Boston's were kind of like the RT-1.

Mandingo wrote:

Back in those days I really believe there was less injuries per 1000miles run or whatever measure you want to use. Nobody had plantar trouble back then. I think most of today's shoes are overprotecting leading to weak feet and injuires. (sic) No wonder there is such a big move to training in less of a shoe like flats.

Oh please, there were a LOT fewer people running back then, seriously or not. The shoes of that day (which even the racing flats of today are far superior to) self-selected people prone to other kinds of injuries out of the sport. There is not a "big more" to training in "less of a shoe", it's a fringe cult movement. Most good runners can train in about anything. Zatopek trained in army boots.

The Adidas Country....a white leather training shoe with green stripes.

Adidas Jet...a cheap, blue nylon spike.

For road racing - Tiger Marathon without a doubt. Blue nylon with white trim. No weight or cushioning.

Training - Adidas SL72 actually had this thing called a 'midsole'. My all-time fave was the original Nike Pegasus grey/black swoosh - was that early '80's?

Cross country - Lawrence Ripples.

Track - Tiger Spartan B

Adidas Gazelle for training.

If these *great* shoes of the 70´s were all that were available today, 75% or more of current runners would be out of running within a year. 70´s shoes were brutal.

Get Real wrote:

If these *great* shoes of the 70´s were all that were available today, 75% or more of current runners would be out of running within a year. 70´s shoes were brutal.

Maybe. But they work for some of us. I run in re-released shoes from the 70's and 80's most of the time. I thought they were much better than most of what's sold today.

Army boots are not racing flats.

I had Adidas Jet. .nice spikes..Gola Firebrand..looked nice and classy..basic spike plate. . Nike America's .. OK. .fancy colours.. a didas adistar 2000 with the slight wedge.. nice but not as good as the ones without the wedge. .also bought some Adidas Tokyo. Lovely uppers..4 spikes so very basic ... all in all I liked the Adidas jet best. It just fitted right and was my favourite even though it wasn't the most expensive. The shoe I really wanted was the Adidas spider .a green suede upper.athough I recall the brochure saying kangaroo velour !. I was mid teens then so couldn't afford them..

1970s wrote:

What were your faves?

Tiger Montreal and they weren't friggin great but apart from some equally crappy Adidas were pretty much all we could get in Australia back them. Apparently, these days tattooed bearded hipsters like the style but I wouldn't wear them to do the gardening in now.