New Kicks

Sort of on a whim, Jake and I went to the running store yesterday. My current running shoes aren't worn out, but I realized that they'll be pushing it in a month when I get to my marathon and I don't really want to run in borderline shoes that day. I don't keep track of the mileage on my shoes, so I'm just roughly figuring weekly mileage and I usually get new shoes around 300 miles, then use the "old" pair for crosstraining at the gym. I like new running shoes. So... shoe shopping!

We have 2 major running stores in this area and I live less than 10 minutes from each one (dangerous). I think I bought my last pair of shoes at Run On! so this time we went to Luke's Locker. I told the guy that I'm mostly happy with my shoes, and my only complaint is that the tips of my toes have been hurting lately. His immediate suggestion was that I may not be tightening my laces properly (tight enough) and my foot is sliding forward in the shoe. That could definitely be it, because I don't tie them the way he showed me. He did the usual sizing (I measure a 7 but wear an 8 in running shoes, and am borderline for having a wide foot so it may just depend on the brand or style) but he spent a lot of time watching me walk and run. He even got a second opinion. His final conclusion was that I'm "pretty neutral" and only very mildly overpronate on one side... and I probably do not need to be in the supportive Brooks Adrenaline I've been wearing for over a year. I tried a couple of brands (Asics and Mizuno) and felt most comfortable in the Asics. He didn't even want me to try a new pair of Adrenalines for comparison. I think it was another Brooks shoe, but he had me try one more shoe that was even more neutral. I honestly noticed it less than the Asics shoe, but I didn't know if that was just because there was less support or because it was a better shoe for me. I also don't want to switch things up too terribly much with only a few long runs to go, so we agreed to go with the more neutral Asics 2170, and possibly work toward something even more neutral in my next shoe when I'm not at the end of marathon training.

So, these are my new kicks:

Since they're not wide, I finally got non-blue shoes!!! I love the gray and bright pink. LOVE.