“IT JUST HAS TO FEEL COMFORTABLE“

Sebastian Hellmann puts on his sports clothes, laces up his running shoes, and is off. A lap through Cologne’s green belt. Smartphone, headphones, and stopwatch stay at home. “I prefer to run by feel, look at my surroundings, and enjoy nature,” he says.

His favorite place to run are the woods. There’s a variety of routes and they can be adapted in a flexible way. “Depending on my form that day, I spontaneously decide how far and long I run – quite intuitively,” Hellmann reveals. Most of the time, however, it’s around seven to eight kilometers.

As a TV presenter, Sebastian Hellmann is on the road a lot. On weekends, he reports from the sidelines of stadiums in the German soccer league, among other things. Thus, he spends a lot of time on his feet. “I notice how running helps me in everyday life – it’s the perfect sport for me to achieve a certain overall fitness,” he says.

Running activates; regular exercise is good for the body. But that’s not the only thing that makes the avid recreational runner slip on his running shoes regularly. “Running allows me to relax and clear my head,” Hellmann says. To think things through, to check things off, but also to sort out new thoughts, he says, a run in the woods is the best way.

For this to work, he has to feel good while running. One of the decisive factors are his running shoes.

“I have to put on the shoe and feel good right away,” Sebastian Hellmann describes his own definition of comfort.  In addition, he says, what matters to him in running shoes is weight and fit: “Not too heavy. Fits perfectly. Doesn’t pinch.”

Basically, his description can be summed up in a single term: comfort (Chapter 3, Part 1: Upper, Midsole Foam, Fit: What Makes Our Running Shoes Truly Comfortable).

“I need running shoes that just feel good and are fun to wear,” explains the Cologne-resident-by-choice. That’s exactly what he gets in his current favorite running shoe, the U-TECH Aion.  “No matter the surface, the running sensation is always pleasant and well-cushioned.” And not only when running.

Sebastian Hellmann also wears his running shoes more and more often when golfing. There, he is on his feet for several hours, covering long distances across the golf course on foot. “Running shoes are simply more comfortable than golf shoes,” he explains. “Often, I don’t even notice my running shoes then – that’s what comfort means for me.” And that’s true in any situation, whether standing, walking, or running.

Too often, however, we are still kept from being able to enjoy that comfort. Running injuries hold us back. In Chapter 4, Part 1 of our Run Better Project, learn why we get injured while running in the first place, and about the role that harmful loads, improper training, and running shoe choice play in the process.