💬 Friday Thread: Do you wear 'super' shoes?

What do you run in?

The kind of shoes we used to wear (Photo by Kristian Egelund on Unsplash)

Unless you’ve been trapped under something heavy for the past couple of years, you no doubt have heard or seen by now all the rage about “super” running shoes — you know, the kind with really thick foam soles (and in many cases, carbon fiber plates).

Some observers, like our friend Sabrina Little, whom I spoke with last year about how running can help shape our character, point out that super shoes confer an unfair, unreal advantage in competition, and thus may be antithetical to what sports are supposed to be about.

(It’s also possible that they lead to a greater risk of injury, as they reduce the natural stresses of training on the foot, which would otherwise help a runner build strength and resilience in their feet.)

HOWEVER…

I wear shoes with really thick foam soles that I bought for the first time last year — until then, I wore the same old kind of running shoes I always had. My reason was, I had just been through my first bout with plantar fasciitis, which was really, really painful — and the new shoes I started wearing were kinda literally life-changing for me.

My question to you is, do you wear “super” running shoes? And if so, why and what kind/brand? (They’re also super expensive, which I hate — but I hate the pain of plantar fasciitis more, so 🤷‍♂️ ).

What about you? What’s been your experience — and, if you don’t wear super shoes, what do you wear and why?