Updates on Previous Posts: Running Shoes and Curling Physics Explained by Experts*

As we await the start of the NCAA Indoor Championships, I have a few updates on some previous posts. 

First, I have always stated that the Nike Internationalists were the ideal running shoe.  This is not because there was anything magical about them, but because they were the first shoe to combine all the right ingredients with the proper materials and manufacturing techniques.  The early Nikes were a slapdash of knock-offs and experimentation manufactured in haphazard conditions and dubious overseas factories.  They were still better to me than anything I had before.

Along came some experience with manufacturing techniques and materials making up the out-sole and the mid-sole and voila!!, finally a shoe that had the right amount of shock absorption necessary (not too much!) and wear characteristics to make running enjoyable and efficient for a long period of time.  Since then of course, one would think that technology and science would make shoes better and better.  But that isn't the case.  With the rise of competition and the explosion in the number of shoe companies, the monetary factors and esthetics became much more important than performance or duration of wear.

There has been a lot of money made in the shoe industry by charlatans and fake-scientists, which have led to shoes that look nice and have great technology and wear characteristics that lasts much less than those early Internationalists.  For instance, mid-sole characteristics are such that they outperform those old shoes at first, but quickly lose any edge and lead to needing a new pair in just weeks.  My beloved Internationalists are still in the container in my basement, with an out-sole that shows minimal wear, and a mid-sole that performs almost as well as when first new.  Only the toe area at my big toe wore out, because of my functional hallux limitus causing my big toe to stick up more than usual. These shoes have more than 2,000 miles on them.  (I have others with more that didn't hold up as well, but that's only because I was a walk-on and had to buy all of my own except a pair of Brooks I received in Sophomore year.  I hated them.) And despite the fact that I weighed a lot less then, they would still outlast anything made today.  All because running shoe companies need to sell shoes to runners, (or at least runners and those that want to look like runners). The feel and initial performance makes you love a new shoe, and if they wear out quicker, all the better.

Let it be stated that I still run in Nikes and that 98% of my lifetime mileage occurred in Nikes.

Here's the initial 1980 ad for the Nike Internationalists:

Secondly, here's a great video explaining the Physics of a Curling Stone, which has the worlds greatest experts arguing against each other.



*Counting myself as an expert is, in itself, arguably dubious!