Fleet Feet

A couple of weeks ago, I took a day off from work and drove up to Syracuse.  The reason being, they had a real running store.  So, I trekked to Fleet Feet.

Disclosure: They did not pay me for this review.  They didn't comp. me.  These are my thoughts.

What a great place.  Right when I walked in, they asked what I was looking for.  I needed a new pair of running shoes, so they set me up with someone to get me set up there.  More on that later.

When evaluating my feet, I was measured, my existing shoes were looked at, my natural walking gate was examined, etc.  I have a wide foot, and rather than the usual "Oh.. Wow.  We only have 2 pairs of wide shoes" that I normally get, all I was told was "I see you have some width there.  Do you normally have to buy bigger shoes than you need?"

The guy fitting me went and got me a pair of shoes, and they felt absolutely spectacular.  I did a quick run in them in the store while he watched.   He went and got 2 more pairs, and we evaluated those too.. In the end, I wound up picking up the first pair.

Apparently, I do pronate, but not a significant amount.  He recommended a neutral shoe, and that's what I bought.  I only bought one pair, just so I can try them, but I am encouraged.

Here are the new kicks:

I haven't tried them yet, but I'm looking forward to doing that soon.  (I didn't want to change too much before the race)

I also got to try out something I've been wanting:

Yep, I bought The Stick.  That's killer.  It was at a better price than I've seen, too!


So, about the guy that fitted my shoes.  Really nice guy.. He was asking what kind of running I was doing, etc.  I told him about the Bridge Run.. he said "Oh, I ran that last year".  Neat.  I asked him about what kind of running he did.. "I generally run marathons".  OK, that's reasonable.

I didn't think anything of it until a couple of weeks later, when I was looking over the race packet.  Photos of the 2011 winners.  There's my guy.  No shit.  "Oh, I ran that last year".  Yeah, you won it man.

OK, let's roll to the great Google... crunch crunch crunch.  Oh.  Wow.  The guy that fitted my shoes banged out a 2:24 marathon in the f'in Olympic trials.

Wow.

Talk about a humble guy.  A testament to the people that work at this store, too.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

...And, if you're reading, Fleet Feet, if you want someone in a completely different athlete class to sponsor, give me a shout. :) lol

Keep on rockin.