I never had bought running shoes because I hadnever thought of myself as a runner.  I buy cross-training shoes.  You know to cross-train - whatever the hell that means if your primary sport is TV watching.  So, when I started running, I used my cross-trainers.  They were good.  If along the path of my run, I ever stepped on a piece of broken glass, I didn't know it.  I finished my run with all my ground-hugging digits still intact; granted, I was huffing and puffing like a geriatric wolf, my feet, however, were doing fine.

After a couple more runs later,  I mentioned to a long-time runner that my lower shins were feeling a bit of a pressure during my runs - a stretchy slight-aching feeling.  Right away, he nodded his head and had that "of course" expression on his face. 

"You need new shoes", he said. 

I was showing signs of shin splints (particularly medial shin splints).  With his guidance, I finally bought my very first running shoes.  Here are three simple tips I got from him.

Find out your foot type.  You could be pronated, supinated or neutral.  A pronated foot tend to put more pressure on the inside of the foot, supinated puts more pressure on the outside, and neutral, well, you can guess this one.  They say over-pronators tend to get shin splintts more.  I was, I found out, a neutral with a slight pronation.  The right type of shoes would indeed help me.

Get shoes that are one to two size bigger than your normal shoe size.  This will give you enough space up front (you should have at least a finger-width of space between your toes and the inside wall of your shoes).

More expensive does not translate to better shoes. You can get inexpensive running shoes that would perform better for you than higher prices-ones, that is, as long as they FIT RIGHT.  And to ensure that they do fit right, the best places to buy running shoes is at a running shoe store with sales people who are runners themselves.  They can, much like my running friend, observe how you walk, and recommend the best shoe for you.

My new shoes are great.  Not only do I not feel pain on my shins but I find that the soles of my feet are much less traumatized.  I love my new New balance shoes.  I know to some that doesn't sound as running serious as Saucony or Nike but like I said its about the fit and my feet couldn't agree more.