My 12 year old daughter is starting to run, and has joined the cross country track team. She is around 5’ 1" and weighs around 110 pounds.
What do I need to look for in terms of running shoes for her? Should I find a neutral shoe in terms of stability and cushion? Please help.
Rick,
I would focus on getting a good cushoined shoe that has some lateral stability. My daughter is just entering her second year on the cross country team and is in 8th grade. She had some foot problems and we took her to a sports podiatrists who prescribed some orthotics and suggested going with new balance versus nike due to the shape of her foot. Not sure if that applies.
Also be careful with kids or youth shoes, they are often times a scaled back version of the adult shoe. Their is a cross over is sizes with youth and adults especially in girls/women’s version. If they fit definitely go with the adult version of the shoe. It costs a bit more, but the shoes seems to be made better.
Good Luck,
RF
My 11 yr old and 14 yr girls both run and we go to our local running store to get shoes. They took a look at their feet and recommended a few pairs. If you have that option where you live I would try that first. Seems whatever I buy they dont’ last long, even with them running barefoot on the track/park for some of their weekly workouts.
Thanks for the replies so far.
I forgot to add a few things. We don’t really have a local running store. So the other day I went to 6 different places. Not the first person knew what shoes offered stability etc… I guess I’ll have to go out of town to find someone other than a 17 year old high school student.
Also, she does wear a women’s size 8, so that probably does allow for a greater selection.
Use online catalogs to get an idea of which shoes off what (stability vs neutral – Road Runner Sports is good for that). Then go to the stores armed with that knowledge.
Just like adults, it depends on things like her foot shape, pronation (under or over), weight, etc.
My 13-year old daughter is 4’11 and weighs 75 pounds, wears a size 8 and has a wide forefoot, narrow heel, low arches and pronates slightly with her right foot. Those are all issues that limit her shoe choices, the most difficult being the wide forefoot and narrow heel. She runs in a Brooks Burn and loves it.
No running store… is there an Academy near you? If so, have her try on some shoes in the $69 plus range… some lasts may just not fit her so you can narrow it down with that. If you really don’t know… a shoe like a Brooks Adrenaline seems to fit a wide range of people well.
Although several companies are making some really good youth shoes nowadays, ditto the adults vs. the youth shoe … a non-issue for your size-8 girl, though.
My daughters run. It is nice having a quality running store in the area. Not only do they give great advice, they have team night where the whole team (parents too!) can come in and get a nice discount on shoes. If there is a running store even a couple towns over, setting something like this up might be worth it for the team (and the parents).
Don’t forget to pick up a pair of spikes too 
I would focus on getting a good cushoined shoe
As an aside, more cushioning is not always good. My 14 year old daughter had some pretty bad heal issues last spring which were caused by the cushioning in her new running shoes. (Which she probably didn’t need anyway since she only weighs about 100 lbs). The softness of the shoe was allowing her heal to drop and over stretch her achilles. This, coupled with her tight calf muscles, was causing her tendon to rub on her heal. One would think that if you are running alot and your heal hurts, you need a softer shoe. But the school trainer knew her stuff so she stuck some 25 cent hard heal pads into my daughter’s $100 shoes to stiffen them up. I thought she was crazy but it did the trick (along with some calf massages, heat before practice and ice after to deal with the tight calf muscles). After doing some research, I found this is a very common problem in young runners so hats off to the trainer.
I’d say this is why it is important to get some expert advice but we did get her shoes from a quality store so that is no guarantee of problem free feet. Every kid is different and you can’t just assume they need the same shoes an adult might need and no one should assume that if something hurts, more padding is automatically the best solution. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
If you hit the place when the manager is in the shop, the Saucony Store at Silver Sands outlet mall in Santa Rosa Beach actually is capable of good shoe advice.
Also, pick up a pair her of soft-soled flat shoes or athletic shoes that she wears frequently. What does the wear pattern look like?
It’s not so much size, though a small woman has more shoe options. It’s wearing shoes designed for a different pronation style can screw up your knees.
Also, pick up a pair her of soft-soled flat shoes or athletic shoes that she wears frequently. What does the wear pattern look like?
What does the pattern look like? One pair has a white stripe on it, and the other has a cheetah pattern on it. 
Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one.
I’ll take a look at what she’s using to see if there is a wear pattern. On the down side, she’s growing so fast that she doesn’t stay in shoes long enough to develop much of a pattern.
I’ve thought about driving over to Run For Your Life since the proprietor supports some of the triathlons in PC. I’ll stop by the Saucony store if I don’t find anything. Thanks.