LRS staffers are usually trained by the shoe manufacturers, and IME a lot of them buy into shoe myths that have contributed to the running injury boom. Latest research says your lowest chance of injury happens when you get shoes that fit. Which ought to be obvious, but as someone who's hard to fit, I've been told all my life by shoe salespeople that I should just cram my feet into whatever they want to sell me based on what they see in two minutes of watching how abnormal my gait is in shoes that don't fit.

Sounds like you've been doing it right on your own.