New Balance MW605 photo: zappos.com
In addition to May being Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month it is also National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. It is therefore only proper that to take this opportunity to show you what you need, if you feel so inclined to get up and get active, if only just a little. Don't worry, this should be painless.
Let's focus on something simple, something you do all the time anyhow: walking. Most of us don't give much thought to this most basic form of transportation. We do it between the car and the bar, the office and the bathroom and the front door and the mailbox. As Martha would say, "It's a good thing." Getting up and doing a little moving is a start.
What I'm getting at is a little more strenuous than that, but not much. You can do it downtown, in North Beach, in the park, at the beach, anywhere. The important thing is that you do it.
To do it, you don't really need any particularly specialized equipment, but a decent pair of shoes is pretty important. Yes, you can walk in loafers and flip-flops, but you would want to go too far in either. Here's some helpful hints to get you in the right shoes to make your new found love for that daily walk a pain-free and enjoyable experience.
Walking is all about motion, you don't really need me to tell you that, right? However, the specific motions of walking demand a few things from the shoe being slapped on the pavement. The first is flexibility. Look for flex-grooves across the forefoot of the sole of the shoe. If there's no grooves, no problem, but you do want to make sure that the shoe is flexy. Pick it up and bend it - it should bend easily about half way between the toe of the shoe and the arch.
Next, you should looking for the right combination of materials. The upper portion of the shoe should be robust but flexible and the the shoe should be light in weight. This combination is achieved by mixing leather and lightweight, breathable, synthetic mesh. You'll know it when you see it.
Lastly, your walking shoe should have a low, un-flared heel with a slight bevel on the back edge. Since thick cushioning isn't necessary in a walking shoe, the purpose of this particular profile is to maximize foot roll-through. The bevel meets the pavement first and the rest of the shoe rolls toward the toe smoothly. Simple. Efficient.
I'll leave the advice of fitting yourself into a walking shoe to the experts. There's just too many variables when it comes to this sort of thing and your local shoe professional would be the one to ask.
ASICS GT-2110 LE photo: zappos.com
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