Cheap Sneakers Still Ideal

Despite my general reluctance to accept the value of marketing, I am sure that the one are where demand reflects the marketing input is in sports equipment. Whether it is jerseys or trainers, the use of sophisticated marketing techniques, channels and sports personalities certainly drives people to purchase equipment at premium prices. And yet, as I stated in a blog post here and here, trainers and running shoes have a wide range in price and some are very expensive. 

My contention is further reinforced in this piece by Lesley Alderman in the NYT that cost does not seem to correlate with the prevention of injury, overall comfort and other variables that matter to runners. In that story, the reporter specifically follows a keen runner who has learnt over time that understanding one's gait is critical to the decision about comfortable running shoes. That athlete's feeling that cost does not provide as much advantage as is claimed is confirmed by studies conducted bears her out. In short, choosing a modest pair will work perfectly provided one picks the size that allows for some space, breaks them in for at least two weeks and ensures that it fits at the heel. 

Running barefoot seems to be gaining currency and the production of a show glove tries to simulate that that perfectly but ends up producing an expensive gadget. Perhaps an algorithm that weighs sufficiently the three variables mentioned above would suffice for choosing shoes while taking care that technology- infusion hardly affects performance and comfort.