For as long as modern running shoes have been around, runners have been let down from time to time when that one shoe that works so great gets changed or dropped by the brand. The search for a new shoe can be painful. Roughly 8 months ago at Moonlight Beach, Encinitas, my good friend and outstanding running coach Greg McMillan (http://www.mcmillanrunning.com) was lamenting that his Wave Inspire 9 got changed and the 10 just does not work for him. He said "You need to build the Pandora of running shoes so I can easily find a new shoe"
After 8 months and a great deal of help from folks on this forum and others around the world Shoe Ranger (http://www.shoeranger.com) is ready to go. Most of the time when you are faced with finding a new shoe you spend a great deal of time and money testing different shoes. Every shoe on our engine has 26 variables that we assign a value to. Through the matching process the engine goes through the first 15 or so variables and looks for a perfect match. Once the engine has all the shoes that match it goes to the next set of variables. Here we give the engine some wiggle room. Too much wiggle room and the shoe gets kicked out. At the end you are left with a list of shoes ranked in order by percentage of how close a match the shoes are.
If you want to see if the new Asics 33-M is a match to your favorite Hoka take a look. For those who love the Saucony Kinvara you know that finding an alternative is virtually impossible. At the same time every brand is attacking the Kinvara. Through the engine you can find out if these other shoes are worth your time.
In late September I gave Greg 2 shoes to try out purely based on the mathematics and not my personal view. He said "I would have never considered either of those shoes".He bought both and has now run through both. I've spent my Sundays running with him. He had plenty of time to complain about the suggestions but all he could do was rave about them.
I hope you enjoy what you find. All questions and comments are welcome here or on the website.
Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed
After 8 months and a great deal of help from folks on this forum and others around the world Shoe Ranger (http://www.shoeranger.com) is ready to go. Most of the time when you are faced with finding a new shoe you spend a great deal of time and money testing different shoes. Every shoe on our engine has 26 variables that we assign a value to. Through the matching process the engine goes through the first 15 or so variables and looks for a perfect match. Once the engine has all the shoes that match it goes to the next set of variables. Here we give the engine some wiggle room. Too much wiggle room and the shoe gets kicked out. At the end you are left with a list of shoes ranked in order by percentage of how close a match the shoes are.
If you want to see if the new Asics 33-M is a match to your favorite Hoka take a look. For those who love the Saucony Kinvara you know that finding an alternative is virtually impossible. At the same time every brand is attacking the Kinvara. Through the engine you can find out if these other shoes are worth your time.
In late September I gave Greg 2 shoes to try out purely based on the mathematics and not my personal view. He said "I would have never considered either of those shoes".He bought both and has now run through both. I've spent my Sundays running with him. He had plenty of time to complain about the suggestions but all he could do was rave about them.
I hope you enjoy what you find. All questions and comments are welcome here or on the website.
Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed