Why Not a Discount Shoe?
With the average technical running shoe now costing nearly $100, we thought we’d visit the discount stores and see what options, if any, they offer to the serious runner. We were encouraged by our findings, not because we found any diamonds in the rough, but because we found that running shoes are fairly priced from top to bottom. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. Our first stop was Target. Their best shoe was the $33 Hart, which is manufactured by Champion under their C9 discount label. We chose it because it includes a functional plastic midfoot shank – an important safety component that was absent from all the other Target shoes. The Hart also has a flexible forefoot that teams with the shank to offer a reasonable midfoot-to-toe transition. Its upper is bare bones, but not inappropriate. Lapses include a lack of padding and no rear eyelet to be used to snug up the heel. The $33 price tag is most telling when evaluating the Hart’s cushioning – of which there is little. Th
