Shoe Heaven!!

Like I said, time to break out the new shoes! When I pulled the new 11's out I was surprised at how different they look in the shoes I ran in this morning. To be sure they were the same, I pulled out the old ones and did a side by side comparison. Wow!

I also put one old and one new shoe on. The old heels were flat, the new ones higher up. The cushion in the old ones nothing like the new ones. Yet the old ones were more comfy. And a side-by-side comparison showed the older ones being shorter than the new! The toe of the shoes curl up after 250+ miles of running, you can sorta see this in the picture.

I just love how a trusty trainer gets worn in and becomes the most comfy thing to put on. Like a workhorse. I also love how new shoes have that New Shoe Smell (Yankee Candle Co, listen up!) and that new smell lingers in the closet. Especially when you buy 3 new pairs at once :) But what I don't always love is breaking in a new pair of shoes. I received these shoes about a month ago and I'm just now pulling them out of the box. Seems I'd rather run the old ones into the ground.

I wore the new 11's around the house the rest of the night. They weren't too comfy, the balls of my feel would tingle, they were stiff and clunky. And as much as I'd like to dump the orthotics, it seems I'll need them. I could feel the depression where the orthotic usually sits like a hole in the sole. I'll try a run anyway without the orthotic, but I have a feeling that even though I've been successful with the Kinvaras, I'll still need orthotics for the trainers.

That's a good question for the experts: why does a minimalist shoe hurt my feet less than that supportive trainer?

Anyhoo, I still have 150-250 miles in the old ones. And I still have 100 miles left in the old Kinvaras. So my old trusties aren't going anywhere just yet. But to have room for these new ones, I had to clean out 3 pairs of old running shoes. Felt bad throwing them away, as if I was taking away any potential they might still have for one last run. But in reality, I wasn't running in them anymore (2 were missing the insoles...that's a sign...) and it was time to discard them.

But I kept my last pair of yellow Sauc's in the basement as my new "work" shoes. :) Just can't let 'em go!