I wouldn't say I am your typical woman, with an overwhelming penchant for shoes. My closet isn't full of 5 slightly different black heels (I do have 1 perfect pair of Taryn Rose black patent heels). But I drove a little over 2 hours to go shoe shopping. Crazy I know! My town isn’t blessed with a shoe store like this one, nor did I feel knowledgeable enough to take the quest online. I needed expert help!
My entire trip to Austin was to go to RunTex. I had been told they were the experts for running shoe fittings. Austin may be a mecca... they have Lances shop, Mellow Johnnys(very cool art bikes there), an awesome Farmers Market alliance, Whole Foods and REI among a myriad of other great places. I prepped the night before, managed a few activities before visiting the store & a few more after. Getting to RunTex was easy. The one I went to was on a main corridor. I whipped into the parking lot, opened my roof completely, rolled the windows down just above Scottie width, filled a very tired Zachs water bowl & set out his newly purchased collapsible bowl with dinner and a chewie.
The interior of the store was large and my initial gaze displayed nary a shoe in sight. To say the store was sparsely populated with merchandise would be an understatement! The was not like my first visit to Bicycle Sports Shop when I was overwhelmed by a warehouse size bike store in which each section for a bike type was larger than any of the 3 bike shops at home. Nah, I was underwhelmed (so much so, I didn't even take any pictures)! The wide open space had a counter island offset of center and little round seating modules. The sales crew was busy with a goodly selection of clients though...so there had to be merchandise. Tucked under the catwalk overhang of a second floor along the back wall were two nooks. One contained socks & running accessories such as hydration belts, the other, 2 small wall displays of shoes. My stomach was feeling a little tense. How was there going to be a shoe in this small selection for my wide, high-arched, externally-rotating-over-pronating feet (according to my Gold’s Gym trainer) in this small selection? I wasn't even sure how to begin asking.
I was feeling a little like I had felt initially at triathlon camp. What the hec was a chubby person like me doing in a running shoe store? I stood there awkwardly, not even pretending to review the small selection of shoes. I was aware I wasn’t there looking for a cool coloured shoe.An blonde woman that resembled my air-cooled VW mechanic, (whom I adore) and whose original language was possibly Germanic finished with her client and offered to assist me. I explained what I had been doing, saying I had been wearing MBTs for walk-running, and that I was there to get fitted for real running shoes. She had me remove shoes & socks, measured both feet, looked at the bottoms & edges, and then had me walk & jog bare feet. After commenting my extremely high arches, she said they had two different shoes for me to try. I tried the shoes, which included walking, running and jumping, along with her feeling my feet in them. They both felt good. Maybe my heel slipped slightly in the first pair. Whatever the reason, she selected the 2nd pair as 'perfect for my feet'. She was very kind and brisk, yet I had troubles clearing my ears of her accent, so I’m not exactly sure why these two shoes were the only ones for my foot structure and gait. Being new to this, I also didn't really have any concerns or questions aside from how many miles before I should replace them.
I left with a pair of Saucony and a pair of socks(Since yesterday, Ive used the shoes twice, give me a few more times & I’ll talk about them.). While the interior of the store didn't have the eye-candy appeal of a gazillion tennis shoes in a myriad of colours, they definitely had knowledgeable staff concerned about getting you into the perfect shoe for your specific combination of foot structure and gait. You don’t get this level of knowledgeable staff or concern at those other shoe stores! Every client was put thru the same exam and paces that I had been. Many were engaged in serious conversation with their shoe fitting expert. I left with my new shoes feeling that I had benefited from the quality caring that my RunTex staff person had served me with. RunTex is a quality instead of quantity place. I'll be back in the store in about 500 miles. Next time, who knows, maybe I’ll even be aware enough to have a few questions.
Once back to the car, I could see Zach sleeping, kibble untouched. The days driving and activities had worn him out already, and we were off the Barton Springs trails to test the new shoes next!
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