Majority of Birmingham Half Marathon runners make footwear faux pas

Jul 28 2009 by Jane Tyler, Birmingham Mail

OF THE thousands of people taking part in October’s Birmingham Half Marathon the vast majority will be running in the wrong shoes.

No they won’t be in slippers or stilettoes, but in unsuitable trainers. And by running 13 miles in badly-fitting shoes they will be more at risk of sustaining an injury.

That’s the warning from staff at Birmingham’s Up and Running shop.

The chain, one of the supporters of the EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon, offers a gait analysis service to help people find the right trainers for their running style.

Manager Adam Edmunds said: “The organisers are hoping to get 15,000 people doing the half marathon and I reckon that half of them will be running in the wrong shoes.”

According to Adam there are three different running styles which everyone falls into: neutral, over pronation or under pronation.

Without getting too technical, if you are a neutral runner it means your foot lands flat and evenly when it strikes the ground. Over or under pronation means it tilts slightly outwards or inwards.

Adam said that wearing the wrong shoes for your running style, or ‘gait’, means you leave yourself liable to injury.

“Too many people take up running and then go out and buy trainers either because they’re cheap, they like the look of them, because their friend has got them or because they always buy that brand,” Adam said.

“But by spending ten minutes having their gait analysed we can fit them out with a pair which are right for their running style.”

We sent three Birmingham Mail employees who are doing the half marathon to Up and Running to have their gait analysed.

This involves running at a comfortable speed on a treadmill in the shop for a minute while their feet are filmed. Staff then play it back and analyse it to determine which of the three styles they fall into.

First up was reporter Adam Aspinall who classes himself as a novice, having very little running experience with only a 10k under his belt.

He told shop manager Adam that since starting his training for the half marathon he had experienced a pain in his right Achilles and wonders if it was down to the wrong shoes.

After watching Adam on the treadmill the shop manager concluded he was a neutral runner with a slight over pronation. He examined his current trainers and advised they were probably the cause of his Achilles pain. “Adam’s trainers are old and worn with little if any cushioning left in them,” he said.

“If he carries on running in them not only will his Achilles problem get worse, he will also start to get more serious pains in his knees.”

Next up was advertising executive Chris Cox who is a fairly experienced runner, having done a couple of 10ks and a 10-mile race.

He was put into the neutral with a mild pronation category. Adam examined his shoes and concluded they were too heavy and he needed more of a lighter neutral shoe.

Last on the treadmill was marketing executive Sarah Morris, an experienced runner who does between three to five sessions a week and who did last year’s Birmingham Half Marathon in an impressive 1hr 51 mins.

Sarah’s experience and fitness showed and she was deemed to be a perfect neutral runner. Adam said her trainers were fine, but recommended that she change them every 12 – 18 months.

“Most people don’t realise the shelf life of new trainers is 18 months,” he said.

“When we tell people that they think we’re only interested in selling them new trainers, but that’s not what we’re about, we want to help customers avoid injuries.”