Decent Really Cheap Shoes (Read 785 times)

Here's the deal: I was just contacted by some friends of a friend looking to buy running shoes. I shared what little knowledge I had and they headed out to the specialty running store - and just called me in a state of shock over the prices. Turns out normal people don't think its normal to spend the kind of money some of us do on running shoes. Which, from a normal person's perspective, is probably, um, normal. This is a young kid. College age. He's *not* a runner, but his sport requires lots of cross-training including running. He claims to run 5 miles a day. I'm guessing that excludes weekends and he's probably exaggerating (I know the kid), so let's call it 20 miles a week, max. He's not running for races but to build cardio for his sport. Most of the runs are probably group runs at 10:00 pace or something like that. His family's having real money problems. They can't afford $100 a pair. Or $80. Or probably $60. And I'd like to tell them something helpful. I need a CHEAP but decent shoe to recommend. Like under $40-$50. And they won't spend the time necessary to shop around. Apparently they need them like yesterday. I can't send them to Ebay or some online thing. So what's the cheapest decent shoe out there. One that maybe you wouldn't be caught dead in, but they'd do the job. I'm hoping for something they can find at Target. That kind of thing.

Hey Jake, Go to the Athlete's House (local running store for those not here in beautiful Middle Tennessee.) They have a discount wall in the back with discounted shoes, a lot of them 1/2 off. I usually walk out of there spending $50-$60, but I think they have lesser price shoes.

I usually buy the last years model right after the new shoes hit the market. This brings the price down to $50-75 Does he even know what type of shoe he needs, or the problems the wrong type of shoe can cause? I can remember when I thought $100 shoes or $60 for that matter was INSANE! It is now perfectly clear that saving a few bucks on shoes is NOT worth the pain or risk of injury. Modified to add If he is a neutral runner, he has many options. If he pronates, he will probably have some problems Further modified to remove superfluous adjective (it caused me to sound like an elitist prick)