What you actually need to start running
Shoes that fit and aren’t worn out. That is genuinely the list for your first month.
- Shoes that fit and aren’t worn out. Everything else can wait a month.
- Buy shoes late in the day, with a thumb’s width beyond your longest toe.
- You do not need a gait analysis, a watch, or a subscription to start.
- Cotton holds sweat and chafes on longer runs. It is the one fabric worth avoiding, and only once runs get long.
Shoes that fit and aren’t worn out. That is the list. Everything after this is detail, and none of it needs deciding before your first run.
Running has an unusually large industry attached to an unusually simple activity, and the gap between the two is where beginners spend money they didn’t need to spend.
Shoes: the one thing worth getting right
Not the right brand — the right fit. Three things matter, in this order:
- Length. A thumb’s width between your longest toe and the end of the shoe. Feet swell when you run, and toenails pay for a shoe that fit perfectly standing still.
- Width. Your foot should sit on the sole, not spill over it. Many people run in shoes a half-size too narrow because they have never tried a wide fitting.
- Comfort, immediately. A running shoe does not need breaking in. If it needs breaking in, it is the wrong shoe.
Try them on late in the day when your feet are largest, in the socks you’ll actually run in, and walk around properly rather than standing on a carpet square.
What can wait
- A GPS watch. Your phone is fine, and for the first month you are measuring minutes, not miles.
- Running-specific clothing. Whatever you would wear to walk briskly is fine. The one exception is a cotton t-shirt on a long or hot run, where it becomes heavy and abrasive.
- A gait analysis. A systematic review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found no research supporting the prescription of running shoes by foot type and pronation control. Comfort remains the most reliable guide anyone has.
- Any subscription. Including ours.
The two genuinely worthwhile small purchases
If you are going to buy anything beyond shoes in the first month, these are the two that reliably improve the experience:
- Socks that aren’t cotton. Cheap, and they are the difference between a blister and no blister.
- A supportive sports bra, if you need one. Correct fit matters more than price, and it is worth being measured properly rather than guessing.
What you actually need that nobody sells
A route you don’t have to think about, three times in the diary, and a plan that starts smaller than your enthusiasm wants it to. Those decide whether you are still running in March. The shoes only decide whether your feet hurt while you do it.
Common questions
Do I need proper running shoes to start?
You need shoes that fit and are not worn out. If you own trainers you can walk comfortably in for an hour, start in those and buy running shoes once you know you will keep going.
Do I need a gait analysis?
No. The evidence that prescribing shoes by gait reduces injury is weak, and the advice frequently amounts to a preference. Comfort is the most reliable guide anyone has found — the shoe that feels best on your foot is usually the right one.
How do I know when running shoes are worn out?
Shoes wear at very different rates depending on your weight, your gait, the surface and the shoe itself, so a mileage figure is a poor guide. Better signals: the midsole feels flat rather than springy, the outsole is smooth under the ball of the foot, or aches appear that were not there a month ago.