It’s partly the fault of high street retail. Go into a shop to buy running shoes, and you’re greeted by this barrage of technical nonsense about “pronation” and

It’s partly the fault of high street retail. Go into a shop to buy running shoes, and you’re greeted by this barrage of technical nonsense about “pronation” and details of your running gait and what sort of support you “need”. of course, it’s just an obvious ruse to get normal people to buy expensive products, but it contributes to the atmosphere described in the article. I do blame US retail culture, but the UK is so culturally coupled to the US in retail that it’s long been the way in the UK also. I’ve even been videod running on a treadmill to perform gait analysis as if I were a pro athlete! It’s embarrassing that people suck this all up. But it’s not just running, try buying a tent or sleeping bag from an outdoor store like REI in the US. “So what sort of camping do you usually do? What altitude do you normally camp at?” “Dude I just want a fucking sleeping bag.”