With Boulder being the touristy, outdoorsy town that it is, there are many places to walk. Whether it’ s for
fun while shopping at Pearl Street Mall, fitness walking along Boulder Creek Path or on one of our town’s
many beautiful open space trails; there are always scenic and fun places to walk and enjoy the view.

If you do, in fact, decide to visit one of these beautiful places you will need the proper footwear. That is
where we at Pedestrian Shops come in. We know what to help our customers look for in the perfect shoe.
We can guide you in the right direction. Before you shop for your next fitness walking shoe take a look at
these guidelines to help with your decision.

First, look for a shoe that is flexible. You will want something that moves naturally with your foot. This
is very important in a walking shoe. You will want something that flexes with your “ heel-toe” motion.
Natural foot strikes keep the bones in you feet aligned and strong.

Second, look for a flat heel. If you have a shoe with a heel that is raised in any way, it could change the
alignment of the bones in your feet. Your feet support your whole body and if they are out of alignment the
rest of your body will be as well.

Since walkers strike the ground heel first you will want to stay away from a flared heel. Having a flared
heel could potentially misalign your entire body. An even better “ way to go” is to look for a slightly
undercut heel.

Shock absorbency is another important thing to look for in a walking shoe. Having a shoe with good shock
absorbing materials will help to protect the bones and joints in the foot and knees.

All-over support is very important when looking for a great walking shoe, and specifically looking for great
arch support should be high on the list of things to look for. Good arch support could help prevent muscle
and bone damage in the foot.

Now, getting into specifics, there are 2 main types of feet. There are pronating feet and supinating feet.
Pronators are people who excessively roll their feet inward when the foot should be pushing off. For this
we recommend finding a shoe with a motion control device in the midsole and a reinforced heel. Supinators
are people who do just the opposite and their feet excessively roll outward after landing. For all the
supinators out there we recommend looking for a shoe with a lot of stability and a sturdy outer sole.

Along with the many, many waking shoes we carry at Pedestrian shops, these are a few of our favorite shoes for walking for fitness.

First, for the ladies, we really like the New Balance WW926WT. It has the flat heel we mentioned along
with great stability, arch support, and wonderful all-over support for the foot. The same reasons as listed for
the WW926WT we love the men’ s version, which is the New Balance MW926BK.

Another excellent option for a great walking shoe for both men and women is the Saucony Progrid Ride 3.
This shoe is made for running but great for fitness walking. It has significant shock absorption, ventilated
mesh to keep your feet cool and comfy and it has that flat non-flared heel we mentioned as well.

We also love the Women’ s New Balance 850 True Balance here at Pedestrian Shops. Yes, it is one of those
trendy toning shoes, but this one is great. One look at it and you will see why we love it. These shoes will
have your legs and “ bottoms” toned ladies! The best part is, they have maximum shock absorbency for a
toning shoe!

So if you live in, or are just visiting Boulder, Colorado and would like to try out some new walking shoes,
come in and visit us at Pedestrian Shops, we’ ll get you started on finding the perfect walking shoe for you!