While at the Foot Solutions annual meeting in Atlanta, we had a chance to catch up with Ray Margiano, CEO and Founder of Foot Solutions.

Foot Solutions was an early adopter of Spira, carrying our shoes in our first few years of business. We are so grateful for all of their support. Watch Andy’s chat with Ray below.

Congratulations to Spira athlete, Julius Kogo, from Kenya, who won the Crim 10-mile national championship with a time of 47:06 this weekend!

Kogo’s time at the Crim was posted after he competed and won a half marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia the previous weekend!

Also wearing Spira, was Kiprotich Kirui of Kenya, who crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 47:24.

Doug Kurtis, our 200-marathon icon, won the 55–59 age-group, running the 10 miles in 1:00:53.

Congratulations to each of these men and all who participated in the record-breaking event!

Check out this video from ABC12 in Mid-Michigan.

This week we will travel to Anaheim for the Disneyland Half Marathon. This will be our third year as the Official Performance Footwear Sponsor of the event. I can state unequivocally that our Disney relationship has been among the most rewarding.

I can recall our first meeting with Disney. Holly and I traveled to Orlando to meet with a team of about 20 of the most creative and excited people we’ve ever met. The meeting included a brainstorming session run by a team at Disney whose sole job it was to ensure the best possible environment to stimulate the creative thought and interaction. It was the most positive meeting Holly and I have ever attended. Among other things, we came up with the idea for InSPIRAtional stories, which has come to define our relationships with people like Dick and Rick Hoyt, Arturo Barrios, and Hunter Kemper, and others.

Last year, I had the opportunity to run the half marathon race as a participant. I’ve never had such a great time! Running through the parks and Angels stadium was so much fun. The crowds were amazing and everyone was having a great time. I didn’t want the race to end!

Mary Akor crossing the finish in 2008 at Disneyland

The Disney expos are always well attended and fun for everyone. They give us the opportunity to visit with our customers and hear first hand their stories about why they run, and what motivates them. You can’t help but leave the event completely energized.

This year, we will use the Disneyland Expo to introduce our new running shoe, the Odyssey. We can’t think of a better place to launch a shoe over which there is such anticipation.

If you’re attending the event, please stop by to see us!

By Dr. Richard M. Cowin, D.P.M.

The end of summer and the recent release  of the newest addition to Spira’s walking shoe line provided an excellent opportunity for me to “test-walk” the Valencia.  The reason this was an ideal time for me was that some visitors to my home in the Orlando area couldn’t wait for me to join them in visiting all the theme parks and it was also time for me to get my kids settled back in at their universities.  It is with much pleasure that I give the Valencia a rave review.

Spira Men’s Valencia

Let me begin by saying that while I have worn a size 11 in Spira® shoes (and most others) in the past, a 10 was the right fit for me in the Valencia.  This was due to the fact that the Valencia is built on a new Spira® last which provides more room in the forefoot than other shoes from the line.  It is worth noting here that your shoe size is the distance from your heel to your 1st metatarsal head (bunion bone behind the big toe), not the distance from the back of your heel to the end of your big toe.  Since I wear custom orthotic devices, I was delighted that the EVA foot-bed/insole was very easily removable so that I could insert my orthoses on the Valencia’s flat surface. (more…)

We recently caught up with Spira rep, Larry Young, and had a chance to hear what reaction he is getting from our new line of shoes. Larry stays on the road, meeting with our retailers. We keep him busy! Watch the video below to hear what he had to say!

We were recently at the annual Foot Solutions meeting in Atlanta. While we were there, we had the opportunity to meet with and talk to several employees and store owners of Foot Solutions. We gathered a few testimonials from these Spira supporters to share!

Marjorie Bonsall is the Concept Founder of Foot Solutions International. She has been in the footwear industry for more than 40 years. Marj has proudly sold our shoes since the beginning of Spira Footwear. We are so grateful for all of her support.

After the 2008 Boston Marathon, Spira Footwear made the news. Our guerrilla marketing caught the attention of CNBC analysts. Check it out!

Doug Kurtis — Photo Courtesy of RunMichigan.com

I came of age as runner in late 70’s and early 80’s and competed in a lot of local races in Metro Detroit. One of the better runners we competed against was a guy named Doug Kurtis.  Little did we know that Doug would go on to become perhaps the most accomplished marathoner of all time.

Doug’s enduring legacy is his durability. He is the “Lou Gehrig” of distance running. While most elite marathoners run one or two marathons a year, Doug averaged 12 marathons per year for a 17 year period from 1981 through 1997. Even more impressive was his pace.

He has run an astonishing 76 marathons under 2 hours and 20 minutes: a world record.  He has been the overall winner of 40 marathons. Since turning 40, he was won the Master’s division in 45 marathons. All told, he has run 199 marathons.  All but one, (a glorified wine tasting tour in France), were completed in under three hours.

Through it all, Doug remains low-key. “I never put any pressure on myself. I enjoyed the moment. If I didn’t win, it wasn’t any big deal. I love competing.”

As evidence of his laid back attitude toward racing, Doug qualified for five Olympic trials in the marathon, but only ran three. “The trials were being held in Buffalo both years. I had the chance to race in Sydney and Munich instead.”

Kurtis competed in his last Olympic trials in 1996, at the age of 44. “The race was in Charlotte. I was in last place most of the way.  At 24 miles, I came up on a kid who was walking and said he was going to drop out. He was from Greenville, South Carolina. I told him this is practically your hometown, you can’t drop out. I convinced him to run with me. With a quarter-mile to go, he started to walk again and told me to go ahead. I said okay, but I won’t cross the finish line until you join me. I waited for him at the finish line. Once the race was over, he thanked me for helping him finish. That’s why I enjoy running.” (more…)

Dr. Rich Cowin

By Dr. Richard M. Cowin, DPM

Encompassing 25% of the number of bones in the entire human body along with numerous muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, arteries, and veins, the human foot is a masterpiece of engineering.  When one considers the functions of the foot, however, these can be simplified into two primary functions; mobile adapter and rigid lever.

Regardless of whether a person is walking or running, when the heel of the foot first strikes the ground, the foot must act as a mobile adapter to compensate for changes in terrain, such as an uneven sidewalk, or a sandy beach. At this time in the human gait cycle, the foot is “pronating” and the bones in the foot are somewhat “loose.”  However, as the person’s weight continues to advance forward over that foot, the bones of the foot must “tighten up” so that the mobile adapter function can gradually take on a rigid lever function in order to propel the person’s body forward and on to the other foot.  We call this new function “supination.”  So, in order for a person’s feet to function well, their feet must go from pronation to supination and then back to pronation, etc. at just the right time in the gait cycle.  What does this have to do with Spira Footwear and  WaveSpring® Technology?

During the heel strike/pronation phase of the gait cycle, the WaveSpring® Technology in the heel of Spira footwear provides superb cushioning in the heel, thus easing the foot’s first job as a mobile adapter.  Later in the gait cycle as the mid foot and forefoot accept more weight, the stable sole platform eases the foot’s second task of becoming a rigid lever during the supination phase. This brings up another question: What are the three foot types and how does each of them benefit from Spira’s unique design and patented WaveSpring® Technology? (more…)

Dr. Todd Narson

Dr. Todd Narson, Miami Beach Sports Chiropractor recently ran his first triathlon in Spira shoes. He posted this article on his blog and shared it with us. Thanks for the great story, Dr. Narson!

So at 44½ years old I decided to give myself an unconventional birthday present and do my first triathlon. The goal was to focus on getting in the best shape of my life by my 45th birthday (July 3rd). Since getting licensed in Florida in 1991, I have been one of the physicians in the medical tents at many triathlons over the years. I was always in awe over the triathletes and always wanted to do one but there was just one thing holding me back – Running.

I hated running. Now don’t get me wrong, I use to love to race my friends or hit a baseball and run around the bases. But running at any length was just not my thing. I’d get knee pain, hip pain and sometimes foot and ankle pain. I loved to bike and loved to swim, but running, just not for me.

In November of 2009 I was leading a group of 50 people through a 21-day nutrition detox & weight loss program and decided to kick my own detox and weight loss up a few notches and give running another chance. After a couple of weeks on the detox program I was running (and quite happily) without any pain. But, being a sports physician, I knew it was just a matter of time. I’ve seen it in all my patients who were runners, eventually the miles and miles of pounding on their joints just take their toll. There’s a local orthopedic surgeon that loves runners because he said eventually, they’ll need either meniscus surgery or a total knee replacement. With that in mind, I began searching the internet for any new technologies that would help me run and train at a higher capacity and reduce the inevitable knee, hip or foot/ankle pain.

Spira WaveSpring Technology

After a few days I stumbled onto a couple of articles about a sneaker company that was only a few years old, called Spira Footwear. They created a technology called the “wavespring”. Spira’s WaveSprings were in the heel and forefoot of their sneakers and they give some tremendous benefit. The wavesprings reduce impact by 20%. This I thought was pretty substantial. If I could reduce the impact of my foot hitting the ground step after step, mile after mile, this would be a great way to help reduce the impact of running on my knees and hips – exactly what I was looking for. As an added benefit, testing performed at Michigan State University in 2001 showed that 87% — 96% of the energy is returned from the WaveSpring®. Ultimately, the Spira sneaker could reduce the impact forces on my body and return some energy back into my stride reducing the overall stress of my training. I had to try them. (more…)