It’s Staff Pick Tuesday! Today we hear from Peter T, our Lions Head store manager, about his Asics Gel-Kayano 18’s.
Recently I traveled to Knoxville to work the Knoxville Marathon Expo that we have done for the last four years. If you’re unfamiliar with an Expo and how they are set up, many vendors come in and set up booths and sell their products to the folks participating in the event. An Expo is usually held the day before the race. For the vendors, it’s a great opportunity to reach some new customers. For someone like me, I used it as an opportunity to break in a brand new pair of shoes that I have never had before. I purchased the Asics Gel-Kayano 18 back in January and because I have many pairs of running shoes I waited to break them out for a special occasion.
The day of the Expo was on Saturday March 31st. I laced up my sparkling new Asics Gel-Kayano 18’s for the very first time and we left our hotel at about 7 a.m. to head down to the Convention Center to start the day. I worked all day long until we wrapped everything up around 9 p.m. Aside from a short lunch break, I was standing on my feet all day in the booth assisting customers. At the end of the day, my feet didn’t hurt at all. I was very impressed with the shoe and look forward to running in it as well to see how it compares to the Asics Gel-Nimbus which is one of the shoes that I run in. The day was a tremendous success because of the hard work put in by all of the fine folks that worked the Expo, but also because my body and my feet were in great shape afterwards.
An interesting side note to the story is that I normally buy neutral cushioning shoes because the midsoles are softer. I stand at 6’0” and 225lbs, so I need the extra cushioning. The Asics Gel-Kayano 18 is a stability shoe but the reason I purchased it is because it feels softer than some of their previous models. This is my first pair but will not be my last. So, whether you’re going to be running, walking, or standing on your feet all day, the Asics Gel-Kayano 18 is a great buy because not only does it offer great support through the DuoMax support system but it also has plenty of Gel for those customers looking for the best of both worlds – support and cushioning.
~ Peter T.