A question for runners from the 60's-70's era

New Balance Trackster III

Saucony is till selling the original Jazz. It seems pretty much the same to me. And I've seen the adidas SL 72, SL 76 and Gazelle, the Puma Easy Rider, the Tiger Mexico and Corsair for sale.

If you're asking about modern shoes that seem like the old ones there's not that much. I'd say anything you can find that has a heel that's 1/2 inch or less high comes closest. The original Asics Piranha isn't terribly different from the old Tiger Marathon/Pinto and the Asics Dirt Dog feels a good bit like the Ohbori.

Most of the major brands have retro remakes of their early 70's models, some are really damned close to the originals.

HRE wrote:

If you're asking about modern shoes that seem like the old ones there's not that much. I'd say anything you can find that has a heel that's 1/2 inch or less high comes closest. The original Asics Piranha isn't terribly different from the old Tiger Marathon/Pinto and the Asics Dirt Dog feels a good bit like the Ohbori.

Yes, the oldies we ran in during the '60s/70s were very flat. I remember the Tiger (now Asics) Pinto had about a 1/4- 1/2" heel lift. Was really a racing flat, but we loved to train in them, which may account for my back issues today! I recently bought a pair of retro Adidas Gazelles, which I ran in from 1967-69 at the U of Minnesota. They felt incredibly flat and not much cushion. Assuming they were made basically the way they were made back then, it's amazing I could run in them. Like many things, we think the "old was better". Not always so, but then my 20 y.o. body was better than my 60 y.o. version, and could handle those minimalist shoes! I remember buying Tigers from some mail-order outfit for $4.99/pair (seconds, but still OK). Even with inflation factored in, that's pretty cheap.

What I remember is how cushioned the adidas Gazelle felt compared to shoes like the Tiger Pinto/Marathon or the adidas Rom. And then the Cortez felt incredibly cushy.

By the way, to the OP, the Nike Cortez is still around but it seems heavier now than I remember.

we ran in converse chuck taylors in the early 70s in HS

i still have a pair of new balance 767 that I bought over a year ago, the things are really flattened and their very firm, but I don't feel any pain.

I recently bought pair of brooks dyad trainers and my shins and arches were killing me after every run.

I switched back to my old shoes and I feel great.

I saw some Adidas SL72 in one of the catalogs recently. My brother used those. In the late 60's we used Converse track flats and then some not remembered brand that came with a saw-tooth type sole we got by mail order from an ad in Track and Field News. Around 1970 we used Tiger Pintos when they came out (added an arch support) and then later Cortez (both Tiger and Nike versions..same shoe). From 72'ish to 78'ish I also used Lydiard designed shoes from a German company for training - Breitling? They were the best.

Prior to 1970 I ran in similar sorts of shoes. My first "running shoe" was a black canvas Coverse shoe with a rock hard sole. I think it was called the "Roadrunner"but I'm not sure. My college issued it to me for my freshman cross country season The first shoe I had that resembled what anyone would call a running shoe was a model from Puma that they gave us when I was a sophomore. That would have been in 1971. The next year they gave us the Rom but by then I had bought a pair of Tiger Cortez, later to become the Corsair, for myself.

run with the wom wrote:

From 72'ish to 78'ish I also used Lydiard designed shoes from a German company for training - Breitling? They were the best.

Prior to 1970 I ran in similar sorts of shoes. My first "running shoe" was a black canvas Coverse shoe with a rock hard sole. I think it was called the "Roadrunner"but I'm not sure. My college issued it to me for my freshman cross country season The first shoe I had that resembled what anyone would call a running shoe was a model from Puma that they gave us when I was a sophomore. That would have been in 1971. The next year they gave us the Rom but by then I had bought a pair of Tiger Cortez, later to become the Corsair, for myself.

HRE wrote:

Prior to 1970 I ran in similar sorts of shoes. My first "running shoe" was a black canvas Coverse shoe with a rock hard sole. I think it was called the "Roadrunner"but I'm not sure. My college issued it to me for my freshman cross country season The first shoe I had that resembled what anyone would call a running shoe was a model from Puma that they gave us when I was a sophomore. That would have been in 1971. The next year they gave us the Rom but by then I had bought a pair of Tiger Cortez, later to become the Corsair, for myself.

In high school, in the mid 1960s, we ran in those black canvas jobs with the gum rubber soles. They sort of curled up at the toes. Pretty light, but virtually NO cushion. (Good thing for XC we ran on the golf course.) I was pretty serious about the sport, so got my parents to spring for a pair of Adidas Roms. I remember the looks of my teammates when I wore these LEATHER running shoes w/ gum rubber soles. I think those were a statement of sorts that I took the sport seriously enough to invest $20 in some "serious running shoes". I couldn't imagine running a mile in those now. I remember the Adidas Olympiade and Gazelles as being the "Cadillac" of running shoes... Jim Ryun, I think used Olympiades for training at KU.

Footsie wrote:

Guys and dolls:

...what model/make of shoes currently on the market most closely resemble and or feel like the models who trained in during the halcyon days of yore?

Thanks.

I reckon this one which I currently run daily in:

-feels alot like old NB comp series shoes from late 70's with gel replacing the old EVA and crepe soles that were good for one marathon race before being totally flattened.

Interesting question. I currently run in the Asics Gel Stratus 2, which, to my great pleasure, feels alot like the Asics Epirus. I ran in the Epirus in the mid 80's.

the Epirus was re-released i think, but the original had white fabric, gold leather heel/toe and blue piping. Wonderful shoe.

For the old timers, do you think you would've had faster PRs had you trained in today's shoes back when you were young? Would you have been injured less? Would you have had different kinds of injury? I ask because I find the times and mileages done during the late 60s incredible. Surely Clayton could've run faster than 2:08 wearing decent shoes. Or is there more to this than meets the eye? Thanks.

In high school in the early 1950s, I found an old pair of black leather shoes at the school. They were made for high jumpers. They were very stiff, had heels and had 4 spikes on each sole and two more on each heel. Like HRE and Steve, in University in the mid 50s the school gave us converse to wear. They had gum rubber soles, no support and no heel. After that most of my training was on a dirt track and I wore spikes. My flats became Tigers. I tried Addidas on several occassions but they always tore into the back of my heel. I was sent a pair of Spot Built shoes in 1962 with a note that they were attempting to compete in the track and field market but I do not think I ever used them. At some point I switched to New Balance and have been wearing New Balance ever since. There was a time when I would just call the company in Mass. when I needed a new pair and they would use the sketch of my feet that was on file to give me the proper narrow pair. That stopped when the running boom began.

I have the gel stratus 2.1, they are good low heeled trainer but it is actually heavier then most other running shoes (13 ounces). Right now I currently run in Asics. Mateohttp://www.ruvilla.com/main/wp-content/uploads/mens-asics-mateo.jpg

Very good shoes. Unfortunately the only thing I dislike about these is that it absorbs water very quickly and you can feel the quishyness with every step you take. I believe they are similar to some of the older model asics trainers they had in the 80's.

Yes. And track times deffinitley would have been faster, Many road runners trained a lot on dirt or cinder tracks Jim Ryun's first four minute mile was on dirt. Schul, Dellinger, Mills, Kidd, Crothers, Lindgren and all the others ran on dirt. Dirt began to be phased out beginning about 1964. I ran in the 1964 Canadian Olmpic Trials on a synthetic track. The 10K was run in the hot sun and the track was tacky. I beleve that I heard that the San Diego track where Mills and Lindgren ran their world record 6 mile race in 1965 was a little hard. It appears to me that it took a little time befeore the correct composition was found. In the meantime, there were still many tracks that were cinders or dirt.