I was talking with some friends this week about some of the different kinds of books that they have read and enjoyed. Some were fiction and easy reading and others were factual accounts of events or people that are part of history. There were also some that were more on the scientific end of things. It was an interesting conversation. It made me think of the different forms of reading. A trail guide can read tracks of animals. There are people that can read impressions on the surface and determine that the various indentations and grooves were made by some traveler many decades ago. One story relates that the width of railroad tracks were made centuries ago by ancient Roman chariot wheels that were determined by the width of foot imprints of two horses side by side pulling the chariot. Then there are palm readers that can determine your life span and love life from the different creases and folds in the palm of your hand. The one type of reading that I do not see as often is the ability to read a running shoe. It is amazing what the shoe of a runner tells you about his or her running form.
For instance, when you notice a smudge or black mark on the inside heel portion of the upper part of the shoe it probably means the runners opposite foot flares out when they run. When the toe flares out the heel is turned in and often rubs against the inside heel of the other foot. You might notice that this mark on the inside heel is on only one shoe. That indicates that the runner has two different foot recoveries when they run. While the marks on the shoe remain more permanent you might notice the dirt on the inside calf muscle of that runner after a race to verify that they run with a flared foot.
The wearing away of the outside corner of the heel portion of the sole of the shoe indicates that the runner is a pronator and lands on that part of the shoe first. Checking further up the sole of the shoe the wearing away near the inside ball of the foot shows that this is where the runner pushes off when running. If the wearing away on the heel portion is in the center of the shoe the runner is more of a neutral runner and the feet probably point straight ahead when running.
