From: mary@Cayman.COM (Mary Malmros)
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet
Subject: Re: Shoes
Date: 2 Oct 92 17:53:21 GMT
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: peggys@orca.wv.tek.com's message of 1 Oct 92 20:03:11 GMT


In article <1884@shaman.wv.tek.com> peggys@orca.wv.tek.com writes:

   Starting Monday my daughter & I will be starting a regular walking routine.
   We are going shopping this weekend to look at shoes and I would appreciate
   your help and advice as to what I should be looking for.  Comfort and support
   are by all means most important as I can get real cranky if my feet are 
   hurting.  What about cushion, shock absorbing, gel?  I also have a tendancy
   towards shin splints.  What do you walkers recommend and why?

As others have said, I find that most so-called "walking" shoes are
not supportive or cushion-y enough.  I walk mostly on hard surfaces,
which includes asphalt, cement, and a lot of brick and cobblestone.  
I look for the following things in a shoe:

	- Shock absorption (because of walking on hard surfaces)
	- Support esp. lateral support (because of walking on surfaces
	  like brick and cobblestone, where it's easy to turn an ankle)
	- Reasonably good traction (ditto above...many "walking shoe" 
	  soles are very slippery on brick or stone)
	- Comfort

I've found shoes in the past that could meet all of these criteria, 
but unfortunately it seems that most shoe manufacturers don't stick
to a consistent design or quality standard for a shoe, even if they
continue to offer the same model.  Reeboks, for example, were 
initially very nice and robust shoes when I got my first pair in
1986.  Then they went through a period where they seemed to sacrifice
support and ruggedness for comfort; you'd put the shoes on in the
store and they'd feel wonderful, but they just wouldn't stand up to
much pounding.  So I switched to the Avia 667, which was one of their
higher-end aerobics shoes at the time.  They were great...but again,
they went through a period of quality degeneration, and then the 
shoe was dropped from the product line.  I got a pair of Asic Gels
that were very nice, but it was a model that was being discontinued.  
I'm using Nike Air Cross-trainers now, which seem to be pretty 
consistent as far as quality goes.  I've also heard that the Air
Pegasus, which is more of a running shoe, has consistently had
the same design and quality, and that this will probably stay the
same since it's such a popular model.  

Unfortunately, given all that, I can't really recommend a particular
model.  I just have to say caveat emptor, and be prepared to go 
through the product lines all over again every time you buy.  The
best way to avoid this is to find a good shoe store with knowledgeable
salespeople, who can look at what you're wearing now, listen to what
you and don't like about it, and recommend something for you.  They
will also know what changes have been made in the product line.

Re: socks: someone else mentioned Thor-los.  I'm a real sucker for
these.  They are NOT cheap but they are sooooo wonderful.  
--
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 Mary Malmros     | Cayman Systems Inc, 26 Landsdowne St, Cambridge, MA 02139
 mary@cayman.com  | Phone 617-494-1999  Fax 617-494-5167  AppleLink CAYMAN.TECH