Heartbreak Hill Running Company — Local services in Boston

*UPDATE- As a result of excellent customer service, I’ve revised the Heartbreak Hill Running Company to five stars from two. The company reached out, apologized, refunded the unsatisfactory shoes, and sent a complimentary pair. Their customer service acted quickly to right a wrong, and that tells me they truly care that customers have a positive experience. I do recommend purchasing from Heartbreak Hill Running Club. (Original review) Online order delivery of dirty shoes in a damaged box causes retired senior citizen Heartbreak!!! Today my first (and only) online order from Heartbreak Hill Running Company arrived. I ordered two NEW pairs of New Balance Running Shoes. Upon opening the delivery boxes, one pair had a mangled box with clearly dirty, USED soles that had apparently been tried on many times, or returned, based on the dirty soles. These were to be gifted but the condition of the box, let alone the dirty soles, make them unsuitable for a gift. The second pair arrived in the expected condition, a box in good condition with shoes showing clean soles with the factory tissue paper intact. Now I have to drive into Boston to return shoes that some employee thought they would pass off to an unsuspecting online shopper. Very poor judgment by this company’s employee because one look should have alerted them that these are inappropriate to ship, like they hope I will not notice? I am a retired senior citizen who ran my first Boston Marathon in 1983, coached high school cross country for 20 years,have socialized with Bill Rodgers, and thought I would give this company, with a familiar landmark a try. My conclusion is never again. If I CANNOT TRUST a company to send a pristine, clearly unworn pair of shoes, forcing a senior to make an unintended drive into the city to return them, they clearly don’t care about their customers, in my opinion. Be cautious and only buy in store if you choose this company. Ordering online is risky from a company looking to discard shoes that in store would...

So, here's the deal: my friend and I signed up for the Boston Half Marathon, convinced that our combined experience of playing lacrosse in college nearly 15 years ago and watching a lot of TikTok videos would somehow get us through it. Spoiler alert: It didn't. Fast forward to the night before the race, and we were essentially two panicked humans wearing old college gear, asking ourselves "Do we even own running socks?" (One pair between the 2 of us.)

Enter Heartbreak Hill Running Co, our last-minute heroes. We walked in and the team there acted like we were their most important customers—imagine a group of people who just get it. They swiftly figured out what we were missing (which, apparently, was nearly everything). From suggesting the perfect cold weather long sleeve to helping us select the right gels (because who knew there were so many options?!), they were on it.

The real MVPs were the staff who explained, with infinite patience, that “no, we cannot just eat a granola bar halfway through” and “yes, we do have an entire wall of socks.”They even explained the difference between hydration and just drinking a lot of water like we weren’t completely clueless. And somehow, despite our lack of preparation, they made us feel like we could run the race without collapsing at the 5-mile mark. (They were right again.)

So, thank you to Heartbreak Hill Running for being the calm in the storm of our pre-race panic. You may have saved our race day. We will be back again to discuss proper gel opening /...

Super patient staff and quite friendly. I was looking for the most stable and supportive sneaker manufactured for the 2018 running season and for my "flat as a board foot." (My description not theirs.) Shoe shopping is a chore and a half for me, so I was there for a little more than an hour, trying on every "most stable" sneaker with various orthotics, including my own. They must have made 5 trips to the basement for me and offered to order me at least 2 different models of shoes that they did not have in the color or/and size that I wanted or needed. They also called the Newton store to have a pair put on hold for me, for if they needed to be sent to the Boston store. In the end, I got the last pair of sneakers I tried on, more an hour later, and they stuck it out with me. Thank you!! The selection is rather small, if you really need motion control and supportive shoes, but if you are a typically footed person or runner the selection is great and high quality while not being overwhelming with too many choices. There is no New Balance because New Balance has its own stores around Boston. All sneakers are geared toward running and in adult sizes. Store is not...