Your chances of landing in a comfortable, quality pair of running shoes greatly increases if you shop at a running specialty shop rather than a huge, multisport center attempting to hawk everything from bowling balls to scuba gear to in - line skates. Employees of most running specialty shops typically are people who run themselves.
Running shoe manufacturers design many different kinds of shoes to meet the requirements of variety of running methods and the needs of different kinds of runners. They also make shoes different for fashion and marketing reasons, but appearance ranks far behind comfort and performance for most runners.