The end result |
So it's time for screw shoes. This simple modification to running shoes increases traction on the road and makes it less likely that you'll experience an embarassing or painful lesson in physics while pounding out the miles.
In terms of the hardware, take your shoes to the home improvement store and start shopping. Specifically, you want drywall screws with a hexagonal head that are 1/4 to 3/8 inches long. You want to ensure the screws are long enough to stick into the soles of your shoes without being so long that they stab your toes when you run. This bag of 12 screws ran me $1.18 and were more than sufficient.
These are No. 8 Hex screws |
To get started, check out the soles of your shoes and look for wear patterns. This helps you determine what parts of your feet hit the ground most frequently. This is where you want to put the screws. I find it most helpful to sink the screws into the wear pattern where the tread is still the tallest, if that makes sense, to ensure there's enough material for the screws to grip.
I put six screws in each shoe, which will be enough to keep me moving next time it's warmer than Siberia in Chicago (I wish I was joking about that. The high today was -13, which is 44 degrees lower than the normal high for today. Save me.)
3 comments:
so awesome! We need to do this.
Yay! Have you run in the screw shoes yet? How do they feel? Also, they make me think of when I didn't like my job and had an "F** you fund" to help support my leaving for a more fulfilling/less crazy job. Just thought I'd share that :-)
Thank you for posting this!!
-Irina
Post a Comment