Brooks Ravenna 5: Running Shoe Review

If you've been reading for a couple weeks you will have read my review of the Big Peach Running Company. During my wonderful experience, I hate to report that I was misfitted. I was put into a pair of Ravenna 5 running shoes.

Don't get me wrong - they felt great at the store. They felt stable and firm. Unfortunately, that's exactly what ended up causing me so much pain. The shoes themselves were very light yet incredibly structured. They were pretty (come on - you know it matters!). I was pretty excited to be in a pair of what I saw to be "elite" shoes. All the super fast runners are in snazzy shoes like these.

Sadly, I've spent Monday and Tuesday nursing sore ankles and feet. When I went into BPRC I had always thought that I ran on the outside of my feet. IE, I underpronate. (If you don't know about pronation, you can read about it here. I was stunned when they told my I actually slightly over pronate. The pain I'm experiencing is directly related to being put into shoes that caused me to underpronate even more. The structure in my shoes forced me even further outside the "normal" range and put a LOT of stress on the outside of my ankles and feet. I've decided that my short 10 seconds on the treadmill in my work clothes just wasn't enough to get into a normal gait/stride.

Thankfully marathonfoto got some great pictures of my foot actually striking the ground. Notice that they captured both my right and left. Clearly, I do not over pronate. Looking at these photos makes me wonder how I didn't break my ankle. EEK! 

This is not in any way a bash against BPRC - perfection in running is impossible. I would go back again and again. In fact - when I took the shoes back, Carl not only remembered me but was clearly upset that they didn't work out. I didn't go in there looking for a refund - just a pair of shoes that didn't make me want to second guess how badly I needed to pee because walking to the bathroom just seemed like torture.

I exchanged them for a snazzy new pair of Nike Air Pegasus + 30. I've been running in Pegasus for quite a while and haven't experienced this problem. I got the grey and orange ones - super cute and so comfy. I wore them to work today to continue to nurse my poor feet. I'm confident I'll be able to return to the gym tomorrow at full strength.

BPRC, Brooks, Marathonfoto nor Nike paid me a single penny to review them or provide feedback. Just more ramblings by yours truly.