We are going to be honest… We are kind of tired of reviewing shoes.

Every month we get new running shoes into our stores and warehouses. With nearly 20 footwear brands in stock and options for every type of runner and walker, we bring in nearly 100 models of shoes every year. Add in colors, gender, sizes, etc and we are talking over 1,000s of boxes arriving into our doors every month. 

At Pacers, we pride ourselves on helping our customers find the perfect pair of shoes for whatever your goals may be. But with so many models coming in, how do we review them all so you know which ones are right for you? Or at the very least: how do we review the most popular models and the ones we are most excited about without being boring and too technical?

This spring, we decided to take a new approach to reviewing shoes. Instead of reviewing our top new arrivals, one model at a time, we decided to review a collection of our best new arrivals, eight in total, and take them directly to the race course. This is where our good friends at the Shamrock Half Marathon and our co-conspirator and DC Runner Courtney Dredden Carter (@eatprayrundc) came in.

We decided what better way to review shoes than with a real runner, at a real race, and get their reactions in real time with no ability to change their review after the fact?

We called Courtney to see if she was down with the idea of changing shoes every 1-2 miles, having a team of people follow her and film her entire experience, and put it on the internet for all the world to see. For reasons not fully understood by us, she said yes! 

This is a new concept at Pacers. We look forward to doing more “in the field” review testing with real runners in real situations so you can see how they hold up in everyday scenarios so you can find the perfect pair for you. We welcome any feedback in the video comments!

So here it is, our Spring 2023 Shoe Preview with 8 shoes reviewed in the moment, by the fearless @eatprayrundc.