With warm weather seemingly here to stay (fingers crossed), it’s time to lace up your sneakers and hit the streets. While not all runners are capable of events such as the recent Buffalo Marathon, it’s seems like this time of year, you can’t step into the street without ending up part of a 5k. But even if you just jog for pleasure (some would call it torture), one thing is still vitally important: your sneakers.

Something you don’t need while running is any extra weight pulling you down. Running is hard enough without five pound weights on your feet. Thankfully, nearly every brand now offers a lightweight running shoe that will keep your feet cool and – hopefully – make you run like the wind.

For men, the Adidas Climacool Ride shoes are light, durable, and will keep your feet cool as you pound the pavement. Nike makes a similar shoe, the Lunarswift, which is ultra-comfortable and comes in a variety of colors. For women, Nike offers lightweight sneakers such as the Free Run 2, which at 7.2 ounces, is designed to make you feel as though you’re running barefoot. And with the available option of customizing to your tastes, you feet will be the happiest they’ve been in years.

For the more hardcore athletes, Asics has come out with a new sneaker specifically designed for the triathlete. The shoes are meant to be worn without socks and have elastic laces in order to save time. But for all that, the neon yellow, coral, and turquoise sneakers are hideous and only the colorblind athlete would consider wearing them.

Whether you’re running twenty six miles or two, what you’re wearing south of your ankles should be your main priority. But don’t give up style for comfort. In this day and age, you can have both.

photo courtesy of Ray Milkowski