right shoe

I’m now up to Brooks Ghost 14s and have never looked back. (Also: see if you can find the sneaky corgi in this picture.)

Before I became a runner, I didn’t give much thought to the shoes on my feet. Don’t get me wrong: I did (and still do) like a fun shoe. But ten-ish years ago, before embarking upon a couch-to-5K, the stuff that came between my feet and the sidewalk wasn’t high on my list of concerns. I just tied on an old pair of sneakers and ran.

After that first 3.1, I realized running brought a peace I’d been lacking. Everything I read—this was pre-AMR—said I had to buy only two bits of gear: a decent sports bra and real running shoes. It’s advice I decided to take.

(There’s advice I decided not to take that later bit me in the butt, like actually hydrating on long runs. There’s also advice I’d find later that I wish I’d known sooner, like not running every training run at race pace. But that is a different column whose first sentence would be “Mistakes were made.”)

The folks at my small, local running store could not have been nicer. An older woman I’d seen at the 5K took a look at my bare feet and my old shoes. She said some words about pronation and motion control. I tried on a few pairs of New Balance something or others, ran around the store in each, and picked a pair.

I’d like to say that those shoes made my every run feel like I was on puffy rainbow clouds. But honestly? They were fine. A step up from nasty old tennis shoes, yes. Foam-and-tech miracles? No.

After a few months, I went to the bigger running store in Binghamton. After the same drill done by a young guy whose picture you’d find in the dictionary under “ectomorph,” I came home with a new shoe to run in. And there, my friends, magic happened.

A pair of Brooks Ghost 7s brought those puffy rainbow clouds to my runs.

woman is running down a street in Brooks shoes

This picture from the Akron half captures my happiness so well that I bought it. The shoes were key.

They are my glass slipper, my just-right bowl of porridge. They are on my feet in every race picture, from local 5Ks to the New York City marathon. And while I do step out on them occasionally—I like my Topo Phantom 2s for the track—I will always return to the Ghosts that make my body feel the best when grinding out the miles.

I am thankful for Brooks Ghosts. They are my ideal shoe. I hope you have found your running shoe, no matter which brand or style it might be. They are the last layer between your body and the road. Without them, it would be impossible to run strong, long, and into my next decades.

How about you? Have you found the right running shoe?