TS, there is no longer the "best" brand or the "best" shoe. The
only good shoe for you is one that suits you. For a serious runner,
generally there are 2 most important points to look out for amount
other things.
1. Shape of your foot: Low arch/flat, normal, high arch. Low
arch foot needs a motion control/stability shoes as the foot itself
cannot evenout the stresses on ur feet from running impact. High
arch people, is usually not an efficient shock absorber, hence
require cushion. Using the wrong shoe type very often aggreviated
stresses in the ankle, knee causing minor stuff like blisters to
serious stuff like ligament or feet aligment injuries.
2. Biomechanics of ur step. When your foot land on the heel, do
it roll forward nicely, roll inward (underpronation) or outwards
(overpronation)? Generally people with high-archs are
underpronators, and vice versa.
I'm sure at this point there will be people saying "aiya, talk
so much, can run means can run, army time also wear a netural NB
shoe, also can run 21km". End of the day, you are spending almost a
couple of hundred dollars, so why not get a correct shoe?
Remember, serious joint/ligament/alignment injuries usually
accumulates over time. You can check out real delicated runners'
forums and websites on their advice.
www.runnersworld.co.uk
http://www.runningandliving.com/running_shoes.html
A great place to really check what kind of feet n step u have
will be to visit Running Lab and this New Balance store at Novena
Square. They have a treadmill as well as other equipment to
analysis what kind of shoes are suitable for you. Having that in
mind, you can then pop over to queensway/etc for shoe discounts (if
u find Novena Sq too expensive)