Since I started the daily gym in February, I’ve been meaning to buy a new pair of running shoes. After a few months working out, my five-year-old Adidas were looking pretty worn down and I’d never really “run” with them before joining the gym. I had started looking for new shoes in a few stores and I was pretty overwhelmed by all the options out there.

Kay recommended that I check out the Ryffel Running centre at SportXX to have a professional analyse my feet and help me pick out shoes based on my feet and running style. I was over at SportXX one evening to pick up a replacement heart rate monitor band because I broke the one that came with Kay’s Adidas HRM, so I decided to have a look at the shoes.

A salesman approached me and asked me if I was looking for something and first I had to ask where the HRM bands were because I didn’t want to buy a whole new heart rate monitor too, just the band, but then I decided to dive in and just ask about shoes. Normally I pretty much abhor talking to sales people in stores, but I figured I would have to if I wanted an analysis and some help.

The salesman was so nice, he made me wonder why I don’t ask for help more often! He gave me a full analysis of my feet on their machine and seemed very knowledgeable about running. He spent almost a whole hour analysing my feet and then helping me try various shoes and watching my gait as I ran around the store in them.

In the end, there were not quite large enough women’s shoes for me, so he actually put me in a pair of men’s shoes. I think he was afraid of losing the commission if I wouldn’t buy that evening, but I’m a pretty impulsive buyer sometimes and after spending an hour there, I also just wanted to have my shoes sorted.

I wound up with this pair of Adidas Energy Boost shoes for around 200CHF, which is a heck of a lot of money for some sneakers, but I felt like I was paying for the service of him finding a good match for my running style. I sure hope he received a commission for that sale! Kay was also impressed that I spent the whole hour talking to this guy in German. It was like a mini-German lesson during the week.

The shoes are a nice neutral base to use for treadmills and I can start running a little with them outside. (Baby steps with running, you know?) I’m excited to use my new shoes and work on running more! In December, Kay and I are planning on joining the Silvesterlauf, which would be my first race as an adult.

Have you had your feet analysed to buy running shoes? What was your experience?