Oh my shoe!

It is a known fact that I love shoes and actually have quite a few of them.

Boots.  Oh yes.
High heels. Yes please.
Running shoes. Of course.

I really hate to see my shoes wear out and I wish they could last forever.  My running shoes wear out much quicker than any of the other pairs of shoes I wear.  Last week I finally broke down and bought a new pair of Brooks Ghost 5s.  My original Ghost 5s are about 8 months old and I ran my first marathon in them back in May so I have been having a hard time giving them up.

But it was time for them to become my "last resort/icky weather running" shoes because they have quite a few miles on them.

In fact they have 721 miles.

Opps.
 
The cost per mile works out to be 0.15 cents (If you remember I keep track of that stuff).

The new Ghosts arrived last night and they are just gorgeous. I didn't really care for the color of my first pair of Ghosts - the blue and purple just was not working for me.  This pair is so perfect because they are PINK!  I love that they are a flashy color.

On closer inspection, you can see I have put quite a bit of wear onto the old Ghosts.  The treads have definitely been worn down.  My right shoe seems to have more wear on the front, while it seems I tend to heel strike a bit on my left. 

It was time for new shoes.  This is the most miles I have ever run on a pair of shoes and I really happy with how well the Ghost 5s held up.  My Ghost 3s are still going strong too, but the two pairs I have are still in the 500 (mile) range.  I think that Brooks seems to make a pretty good quality product that stands up to a lot of miles.

This afternoon I get to test out my new shoes with a nice treadmill run.  It was (and still is) way too cold to run outside!  The temperature is 10F with a wind chill/feels like temp of -5F.  Brrr.  Yes it is definitely a treadmill kind of day.

Cost per Mile

Thanks to Running Ahead and its handy equipment tracker/calculator, I can keep track of how many miles are on my shoes.  Because I run in a lot of different shoes.  And by a lot, I really mean A LOT!  Right now, I have 6 pairs of shoes that I could wear on any given day. 

Each shoe has its purpose though.  I have two old pairs of shoes - they are my old orange Brooks ghost 3 and old blue Brooks ghost 3s.  They each have 483 and 529 miles respectively and I don't wear them much at all.  I go to the orange pair first if I need to and will only wear these shoes on days when I am running speed work and its going to be rainy.  If those two conditions aren't met then they just sit on the shelf.  Soon both these shoes will be out of rotation.

Next there is my purple Brooks Ghost 5.  These are my marathon shoes and although they have 527 miles on them, I am finding it hard to give these shoes up.  For all the miles they have taken me, these shoes have lasted a pretty long time.  I also have my pink Mizuno Wave Rider 13 which I originally bought to use as my cross training shoes but somehow managed to put them into my running shoe rotation.  The mizunos are only used for easy morning runs and can be interchanged with the Ghost 5s if needed.  The Ghost 5s can be used for long runs but will be soon out of rotation.

I have two pairs of shoes that I use solely for racing and speed work.  These pair of shoes are my Brooks Pure Flows and my Adidas Adizero shoes.  I bought the Flows in order to make the transition to a more minimalist shoe and I love them.  I ran my last half marathon race in them and have done all my speedwork in them since the summer.  I have been racing 5ks in my Adidas shoes for over a year and I love them.  I bought them because I had a gift certificate from winning a race at a random local triathlon store.  They are very light and I love racing in them.

This is the most shoes I have ever had in rotation and I can still remember (~ 2 years ago) when I only had one pair of running shoes at a time.  It may seem like a lot of shoes but in fact, I have only bought two new pairs in 2012 - the Ghost 5s and the Flows.

I seemed to have gotten a little off track there - back to the original point of this post - The cost per mile of my shoes.

Each time I get a new pair of shoes, I enter the name of that shoe into the equipment on Running Ahead.  I label my shoes by their brand name plus color.  I started this when I had my blue Ghost 3s and my orange Ghost 3s otherwise I would have confused them.  After naming the shoe, I then enter in how much each shoe cost. And then the calculator does the math as I enter in my miles each day.

My  most expensive shoes have been the Brooks Ghost series. And although I have spent the most money on those shoes, all four pairs that I have owned (3 pairs of Ghost 3 and 1 pair of Ghost 5), I have run over 500 miles in each of them and my average cost per mile is 18.5 cents.    When broken down like that, spending the money on the shoes doesn't seem all that bad.  And I really always try to get my monies worth on everything I buy.

How much do your shoes cost per mile???

I can't stop buying shoes

I kind of got caught in a down pour this morning on my run. When I first set out, there were some dark clouds in the distance but they looked like they has gone past.  I was at about mile 3 when the clouds over head started to get really dark. Then the rain drops started to fall and by the time I was at mile 4, it was raining so hard I could barely see.  My pace picked up quite a bit as I tried to get home but I was still a mile away.  By the time I reached my driveway, the rain has completely stopped, but I was soaking wet from head to toe.

The 5 miles this morning were pretty easy and I felt good out there running.  Sadly my Ghost 5s are now squishy and filled with water from the down pour.  They are going to have to dry out for a couple of days.  Thankfully I have another pair of shoes that I tried out on Sunday.

  

Brooks Pure Flows!

 

On the recommendation from my running buddy, I picked these new shoes up and decided to give them a try.  Since the Ghost 3s are not longer available I wanted to have an extra pair of shoes just in case the Ghost 5s weren't my favorite.  And the 5s are different from the 3s - they aren't bad but I do miss the Brooks Ghost 3s.

The Flows have a 4mm drop compared to the 12mm drop in the Ghosts.  I was pretty excited to try a more minimalist shoe and my Sunday morning run was a perfect time to try them out.  I had 2.5 miles on the schedule and I enjoyed every minute of it with my new shoes.

I can't really tell the difference in the drop just by looking at the shoe but my feet could tell.  It is hard to describe but with less drop on the shoe, I felt like I was running better.  I am not sure how my form looked or if I was striking my heel less but it did feel good.  As my running buddy says, "These shoes feel good but funny!".  I know that these shoes will take a little bit of adjustment and I plan on slowly working up my mileage in them so my legs and feet can get used to the lesser drop.

Today - a day after the run - my calves aren't that sore (I was warned that I might have sore calves).  In fact, I don't really feel any difference from running in the Flows yesterday.  It seems like the transition into the Flows will be easier than I thought!

Switching Teams

We all have a brand of running shoe that we love. For me, that has been asics. I have worn that type of shoe since before college. I don't even know how or why I started wearing them. It may have been that I saw a teammate wearing a pretty pair and wanted some of my own. Currently I wear the 2150s.




When I bought this pair at the specialty running store back in the summer, they told me to go up a 1/2 size because my right foot is slightly longer than my left. So now my left foot has to suffer in a bigger pair of shoes because of my right foot! And of course I am currently having left leg pain** - I don't want to blame the shoes but that pretty much is the only big change.

Over the weekend I had a coupon for the sporting goods store so I went and picked up a pair of Brooks (Ghost 3)! Of course I am suspicious of these new shoes and how they will treat my feet, but I think it may be worth a try. I walked around the house in the shoes ALL day Sunday and they felt amazing (but don't all new shoes feel amazing??)

I think I am going to give these shoes a try and if it works out I may never go back to asics! Any thoughts? Who wears the asics and who wears the Brooks?? Let me know which one you like best!


**Even though I am not a PT, I have done tons of research and I think I may have found the answer for my pain. In the picture below, I have circled the area where I feel pain. After googling like crazy, the pain seems to be caused from inflammation of those tendons and/or bursitis.
I guess that means more stretching for me and not much running until it heals up and I don't have any more pain. It is just too bad that when I went to the PT 5 weeks ago, he wasn't able to diagnosis it. Uggg I hate injuries!