Sole habit

I do not wear fancy expensive shoes. For the most part of 2019 I wore a rather cheap snickers made by a company based in Czech (which I thought to be an Indonesian brand). I wore that one until its death. I even wore it to do Salt Train Jungle Trekking. I would not do that if I had to repeat the activities. I would wear more newer better shoes for sure. The trail was slippery and the pair that wore had worn our soles.

Lately I decided to buy more fancier branded shoes. I found this store in KLIA2 airport where old models are sold. Those are still in mint condition but they are apparently no longer produced/old models. So the price is pretty great for branded shoes. I always pick all black shoes as I would wear them to office. Of course Covid had made us working mostly at home and my office later introduced this concept of smart casual dress code that would make running sneakers OK to be worn to office.

Of course good pair of shoes is essential but I would think the brand matters. I am pro. I am running for fun and fitness not for speed nor fame. I would prefer my Strava record to proof how serious I am as an amateur runner, regardless of what I am wearing during running. Nike is correct to say “Just do it” with Nike or no Nike.

Lately I tried a pair of running sandal. Some people wear those during marathon. Obviously sandals would allow our feet to expand which I would assume could happen during long run. But I haven’t tried running my 10K wearing a pair of running sandals. Would still prefer a pair of shoes.

I have seen people running barefoot. That would be too much over the top for me. Running barefoot risks us stepping on things that would hurt our flesh. If that happened that might be injuries that would sideline us sometime or even stopped us from running more. Moreover I believe that shoes/sandals would act as shock-breaker. As our foot hit the ground our body would experience shock that might not be comfortable if not dangerous. Running shoes/sandals would absorb such shock and hence spare our bodies from any impact

Young woman beats foot forward showing sole of shoe. She is standing on path in public park.