My Shoes...

I didn't include my shoes on my winter gear, because my shoes are my year round gear.

I love my shoes.  They're Brooks Revenna's.

When I first began running 5 years ago, I was just running with whatever cross-training Nike's I owned.  My knees hurt, my feet ached my back was sore and I had a bad callous on the sole of my foot that actually felt like a bone spur.

I picked up a running magazine and it had an article about running injuries.  I didn't have an injury, just soreness and pain that wasn't going away, I thought.  The article suggested that symptoms I was feeling could probably be tempered or cured with better, proper running shoes.  The magazine also had a feature review about the season's upcoming new shoes.

A few days later I was at Sports Authority and stumbled across a pair of Brooks running shoes in the "clearance aisle".  The magazine article had rated a pair of Brooks shoes as the Editor's Choice. They weren't the shoes that I saw in the magazine, but I figured they would be better than the cross trainers I was currently wearing.

I was right.

The Brooks Adrenaline shoes changed everything.

My feet stopped aching and my back no longer hurt.

I told me wife (well, she was my girlfriend back then) that running in these new Brooks was like running on pillows.

I ran the treads off those shoes.  When it came time to buy new shoes, I did some research.  I figured out my running pronation/mileage/arch and bought the precise shoe that was prescribed for me.

The pain in my knee completely subsided.  It was unbelievable.  The true miracle was that the callous/bone spur on the bottom of my foot healed and disappeared.  It was a pain that I had lived with for 20 years and buying the proper shoes had completely eradicated it.

So, I'm very attached to my Brooks Shoes.  I'm staunchly loyal to Brooks and have testified their powers and comforts to every running friend I have.  My wife chucked aside her Nike's several years ago and has become a Brooks disciple as well.

A lot of my friends love Asics and Mizuno's and I know that I could find styles in those shoes that would be comparable to the Brooks Ravenna's that I so dearly love.  But, I love being a Brooks guy.

I'll be loyal to them until they stop making shoes.