I am in search of appropriate shoes for running.
What does ‘appropriate shoes’ mean?
Shoes that match and accommodate the shape of my foot as is. That in turn requires an explanation, I am sure.
Foot is three dimensional. But shoes in India are typically sold on just one dimension, length of the foot. You didn’t notice that so far?! Bad. You've noticed?! Great! That’s what they are doing here, even the mighty big brands.
Just to give an example. Here's a shoe size chart shown on Amazon.in for the brand Woodland.
You see that? Just one dimension for a foot that is three dimensional. Three dimensions mean length, width and depth/height. Right?
When these brands or shoe-sellers say that your shoe-size is 10, they are referring to the length of your foot. But what about the width? That isn’t taken into account. Believe that?
Typically, when one is out to buy shoes, one keeps looking at the ‘design’. Now what does that mean: keeps looking at the design? It means one looks at the over-all look and surface design to shortlist the shoes to try.
Once you express a desire to try a certain design in your size, say size 10, if that shoe design in size 10 squeezes or pinches your foot on the sides, and you don’t feel comfortable in it, the seller will say ‘try size 11’. When you try that bigger size 11, quite obviously, the shoe may feel more comfortable but it will surely end up feeling much longer than needed. And that's not good if your purpose is running or walking or moving generally. But that's what your buy shoes for; you don't buy shoes for sitting!
Let’s try again to answer this question: What does ‘appropriate shoes’ mean?
Should not be longer than what my foot needs, should not be narrower on the sides than what my foot needs. Any glaring mismatch means monetary loss, and a big disruption in my running plans.
I am in search of appropriate shoes for running. And I am checking Google almost every other day to see if a decent option is available or not; and I am not looking at ‘design’ or ‘surface design’.