SUCK!
But they were a gift and I’ve had them too long to return.
They’re ASICS DS Trainers. They actually don’t suck as I know several people who swear by them. I just swear at them. But, like many pieces of athletic gear, shoes are pretty personal and what works for one doesn’t for… well… me. The problem I’ve repeatedly experienced with these shoes is I can’t run downhill. I’m talking even the slightest downhill. No problems in the flats or uphills, just downhill. What happens is a slight pain that begins about three inches above my right knee, kind of between those two muscle masses just to the outside. Within a minute of that pain, a sharper pain propagates up the inside of the leg, starting again about 3 inches above the knee and this one grows upward and in increasing pain. Next, the inside of the left leg - the same place as the right - starts hurting. This is debilitating sharp pain and flares up so quick, it becomes so bad that even slow walking is difficult. This happens in the morning, in the afternoon, after a mile warmup, after three miles of moderate pace, but always downhill. On each of these occasions, I turn around and hobble my way back. In about 5 minutes, I’m OK to walk and in a few more, I can actually run as long as it is uphill or flat. In fact, a couple of times, I could run a a good pace. The legs are sore in those spots for a couple of days and then I’m perfectly OK.
Now, those same runs in my old Nike Pegasus or my Mayflys go just fine. In fact, two days after one of these painful attacks, I ran the course again in my Mayflys and had a great run. Well, I have a half-marathon next weekend that the first six miles are downhill. Guess what shoes I won’t be wearing.
