The recent issue of Fast Forward, a publication of the USATF, lists the top 50 running stores in the US. I was surprised to see that two (out of three) of the Indianapolis stores were selected and none from my new home in the Twin Cities.

Their “Gold Medal Winner” is the Durham, NC based 9th Street Active Feet, Inc. This store sounds almost like a running clinic inside of a store – their staff hold degrees in areas such as kinesiology, physiology, exercise science, and other related areas. It sounds like a great store to visit if you are in the Durham-area. Anyone from there want to comment on it that’d be awesome!

The two Indianapolis stores actually include one that I was never in. We lived North-East of the city and the Athletic Annex is more on the West part of town. It didn’t really ever make sense to drive past two stores on the way to it and I never won any gift certificates to the Annex. The main reason they were selected is because of their vast community connections and former elite runners working at the store.

Hoosiers, can you guess which other store was selected? What if I ventured to say that it might have been a little politically motivated? Give up… The Running Company. The reason I say it may be a little politically motivated is that Bob Kennedy is one of the owners and is very involved in the operations and local running community. I don’t make that statement to take away from the store, my experiences there were always top-notch. The Running Company makes the list because of their in-depth shoe analysis and the range of training programs. Not to mention they will soon have five stores in the greater Indianapolis-metro area. If they put one in Anderson or Muncie they could take over the state!

What is your favorite running store?? Did it make the list?

[tags] Running Stores [/tags]