Follow Active.com Senior Content Editor Scott Brown as he trains for his first half marathon. Get caught up on the series by reading Scott's introduction, or read his most recent piece below.
"It's gotta be the shoes!"
If you were around in the '90s, you're probably familiar with this sneaker ad starring His Airness and Spike Lee. The commercial features Mars Blackmon (as portrayed by Spike) interrogating Michael Jordan about what makes him "the best player in the universe." Mars insists Jordan's shoes, shorts or some other piece of gear has to be his secret, while MJ shoots down every theory.
Every time I saw this ad, I always sided with Jordan (because we have so much in common). After all, "The clothes don't make the man; the man makes the clothes," said some guy who probably wore store-brand clothes. And such was my attitude when my little running adventure began.
When I started training with ACTIVE's Couch to 5K? app, I was running in a four-year-old pair of sneakers I had gotten for free at my last job. I figured if they were good enough for me to play pick-up basketball in, they were good enough to run in.
More: 2015 Fall Running Shoe Guide
They served me well enough, but by the time I made it to the final week of the C25K training plan, I decided to reward my accomplishment with a "real" pair of running shoes.
So, I found a pair. At a department store. On clearance for $35. Jackpot!
I broke them in with my last couple of training runs and then wore them for my first 5K with no complaints. And then I decided a half marathon sounded like a good idea.
