It's amazing how much information there is out there to learn about running. Endurance training in general is a very technical activity and the more you delve into the science of peak performance the more you start to see charts and graphs about VO2, lactate buildup, strength curves and the like. Oh, and then there are the reviews of running shoes. Performance shoes, stability shoes, motion control, neutral... and the list goes on and on.
Like most things there are some basics that you have to learn right away -- like buying a pair of shoes a half size or so larger than what you normally wear. Especially for a distance event, you need the extra room in the toe box (that's a technical term!) to accomodate swelling.
The problem is determining what a "half size" bigger really is. Especially if you live in the USA. Shoe sizes in the US are not consistent across shoe brands -- and they are not consistent across models either! A size 11.5 in a Brooks Addiction 5 is not the same size (let alone fit) as an 11.5 New Balance 716. Oh, and the New Balance 1221 is different still. There is a solution that seems to work universally well. The metric system. Most running shoes list their size 3 times -- in US units, in UK units, and in centimeters. The UK measurement is usually a half size smaller than the US size, go figure. But the metric measurement is the holy grail. The size 12 Brooks Addiction is 29.5cm. The size 11.5 New Balance 716 is 29.5cm. Bingo! A half size is a half or full centimer depending on the fit of your normal size.
All those years in school and I didn't really believe the teacher when they said the metric system would make our lives easier. Now I know better.
