Unwittingly, I turned into a Brooks man..

I had always thought I would wear Asics for life. When I started running (and this really takes me back to my Uni days in the late 80s), I vaguely recalled someone telling me that there are no other running shoes save Asics. Asics were then the best and I believe still are, for those whom they have built their parameters to cater to. When I started running again Dec 09, the first pair of shoes I bought were my Asics 2130. The kickabout Asics that I had before was some 2-plus years old and the cushioning had long left the shoe.

What prompted this post was a diary entry that said it was now time to change "our shoes"! This was made one year back when Nisa bought her Asics shoes as well. That was also the time that marked the commencement of our running journey all through the year. I had thought one year ago that our shoes would last that long but as the year progressed, and so did our running, we have changed shoes many times over, either because the cushioning has worn out, the soles have worn out or we fell out of love with the shoes we had.

All during the year, we have been visiting Peter at the Brooks shops on the 3rd floor of the Curve. We've come to know each other to the point there is always friendly banter when we arrive and slowly I have become a Brooks man. The initial attraction of Brooks running shoes (at least in this part of the world) is that they are priced significantly below Asics - not much but significant enough for me given that we change our shoes frequently. Our first pair of Brooks shoes were not happy experiences. Both Nisa and I found the foam too much to the point we could not feel the ground. The shoes we bought were highly rated and I am guessing it is because we were not heavy enough to compress the foam enough to the point it was designed for. Nisa has remained with Asics.

I have looked towards their racing shoes because I believe they would have less foam. The Launch was also significantly foamed, but softer and it is my high mileage training shoe now. I just bought the Racer ST4 and I love it. The cushioning is just fine and it is light enough to feel absent on my feet. We're probably going to see Peter this weekend, after grocery shopping and I am hopping to check out the Green Silence. I probably shouldn't be buying anything now but let's see how this goes.