I was a runner for about 25 years from 1980 to 2005. I learned a lot of things but one was the importance of proper shoes. I found running shoes to be just amazing. When properly fitted, I found you could take them right out of the box and run a 10K (6.2 miles) without any problem. Try  that with regular shoes. I was always used to breaking my feet in to a new pair of shoes and I often referred to them as suffer shoes. But almost all running shoes were comfortable and ready to go right from the start. As such, I began wearing running shoes  wherever possible, and in California that's almost everywhere.

When I was a runner, I tried all the major brands from one time or another and I had favorite brands and models, to be sure. Well, I no longer run and am not nearly so particular any more, but I still use running shoes because of the comfort and almost any of the major brands work well given a proper  fit.  As such, I usually buy my shoes at a deep discount place. The latest is a pair of Puma Men's Osuran Cross-training Shoe which I found at Costco. They called it a running shoe, and I have no problem with that. I take a standard U.S size 11 and almost any running shoe of that size will  fit, except  for extremely wide types. Well, these Pumas fit fine. I put them on and went for a 3-mile hike. No problem. My pair looks like a quality shoe and I hope that's the case as I generally use them for at least three years. I appreciate the black color and wish the white side stripe was less apparent.

Gary Peterson