Disclaimer: If you are easily offended, you should not be reading this. For the record, in no way do I condone objectifying women at all. This is meant to amuse, raise eyebrows, and simply, I became bored during a snow day. Don't assume you know what I'm saying, because it is not clear.
Girls are like running shoes. This truth is defendable in a number of ways but it's much simpler to just explain it. When you walk into a running store a whole number of things can happen.
So you find a sweet pair of lightweight trainers, they don't quite fit right but they're so light you don't even care. Let's just call her Amanda. At first there's a little trouble getting used to each other but she's so light and you feel so strong that you could never really go back to any other shoe. Eventually though two things happen: your legs adjust and she ends up falling apart after 200 miles or you end up getting shooting pains in your hips that wear you down, you just can't handle what Amanda demands of you every morning and afternoon.
So if you're like the rest of us, you're tried a few lightweight trainers and they just don't work over time. Maybe you're really jaded, I mean, really really hung up about how things wouldn't work out, so you go to the other extreme, MC. That's right MC. MAX CUSHION. You said you'd never wear a shoe like that but Cortney has other good qualities besides looks. Despite what you thought, this shoe feels good. Really, your stressful, loud pounding is now dampened but all that extra foam even though it leaves you feeling sore. All over. You realize that Courtney doesn't have one bit of stability, not one sliver of plastic, she's pretty much all foam. Your knees ache so bad from your morning runs, you start skipping your once pleasant afternoon romps in the forest. You fell like you could put 2000 miles on these shoes if they just didn't hurt your knees so damn much.
There are some things in life none of us can ignore. You feel after your last few shoes, you really need control. So you spend a little more time searching around and this time you buy quality and I mean quality. Maybe you go out and travel to a New Balance store, maybe you find a Brooks retailer, but you're really looking for one thing: Structure. Liz may not be flashy, she's a even a little hard on the feet, but she's got stability like you've never dreamed. From the moment your foot touches the ground to the moment it pushes off, she's got control. At first you do things a little too rough, you come down a bit too hard (and put pressure in all the wrong places), but eventually you're doing things how she tells you to and where she tells you to. Things are great between you and Liz, you put in the miles morning, night, and afternoon while she guides when you might falter. Nothing could ever be better, right? WRONG! There's no freedom! There's just control! All the fire is gone! You can't even remember what it was like to run on your toes for a quarter mile with the wind in your hair kicking up gravel on every stride because she's got you running heel-midfoot-toe for a thousand miles. You have to get OUT! Race like a demon for no other reason than to feel alive! Burn down an alleyway just to feel your blood race! Sure Liz has given you structure... but taken some of your strength! ... oh and you know, you just know... it's going to hurt if you throw her away, but you can't keep surviving, you have to live! Even if it hurts to go without for awhile.
You've kicked them all, you've done it, you know you don't want flimsy little lightweight trainers screwing up your long runs, you can't handle the kind of pressure cushioning puts on your mileage, and you can't deal with structure taking the fire out of your life... you don't need compromise... you need the right fit. So you ignore your friends' advice, I mean you've tried on every type of shoe in the store... well... except that one... but you're a runner. You're extreme! You don't settle for moderation, for restraint in everything... do you?
You do. You suck it up. You walk right in there and you try on a pair made for slight overpronaters. Eve doesn't exactly feel right at first but that doesn't mean she's not the right fit. So you don't buy a pair of shoes that day, but in a few days of running on and off without shoes, is just not right. You've waited a little time, so it'll be okay and try them on again... you get tied up and go for a run down the block outside the store... no commitments, just a block... nothing to complain about, it wasn't great, but then... it wasn't bad either. You're a little nervous but you say, "To hell with it, why not". So a couple days have passed and you take Eve out, store owner said you can take them back within a month any condition, real relaxed you amble through a few easy miles. Over a couple days, weeks, you find out she has structure not control, responsive but not brittle, cushion in all the right places, and all around the stitching and construction isn't perfect but any more work in one place would detract from the other parts. You and Eve... you get things done, you feel good doing it, and morning and afternoon you're ready to run.
Now maybe it's not always like this. Sometimes you pull those old shoes out of the bin while you're searching for your perfect shoe and take them for a few runs. Things go okay at first and you're reminded of all the good, but after a time all the pains start coming back and you're reminded that there are too many miles on these shoes and even if there weren't... they were never right to begin with.
Some people like cushion, some people like structure, though, most like those lightweight trainers that make you feel so good but really aren't all that good for you. A little of everything, in all the right places, that's what most need and it just takes time and experience to know what you need and want.