The Running Shoe Diaries, Part II

I am surprised at how quickly my first pair of expensive running shoes wore out.  It's not like I'm putting major mileage on them or anything, but I did weigh more when I first bought them, and I did wear them for a walking quite a few times which puts different wear on the heel support which is what wore out.  The collapsed sole was causing me to overpronate on my left leg.

I was with my dad when we noticed this and he convinced me I needed a stability shoe.  Since it was the week of my 5K run in Snoqualmie, I had to quickly find a new pair of shoes.  I bought a really cute pair of Asics, I mean cute!  I wore them twice before the actual event and they seemed okay, but definitely different than my "pillow shoes".  Despite an awesome finish time on the 5K (32:53, pace 10.36) I felt awful during that run.  It was really really hard.  My legs felt terrible and I had shin splints!  I ran in those shoes two more times before deciding they had to be returned.  Each run was progressively worse until the last time when I got about a quarter mile from my house and then hightailed it back to change shoes.

It was a Friday, the day of my long run so I was in a quandry over which shoes to wear.  I ended up switching to the "devil shoes" and went out to attempt my first 10K run.   And I did it!  I mean, I RAN an entire 10K!  I was amazed at how good I felt that day, and my legs were relieved.  It was a great feeling!!  It was also my last day of being 35 years old.  I couldn't have run that far when I was 30, not when I was 25 either.   I continued in those shoes for a few more runs and then the same ol' pain I had experienced in my right leg started coming back so I knew I had to buy a new pair of shoes.

I decided to buy another pair of the Nike Zoom Vomeros because they had worked before.  I had thought they were great at the time.  Except after a couple runs in a new pair, I realized my back was hurting more and more, and after a very scientific study (not really) I decided it was caused by the shoes.  So another shoe return.

By that time I was feeling very discouraged.  I wondered if perhaps it wasn't the shoes, perhaps I just don't even know how to run!

I visited both a running store and Foot Locker.  Sales associates at both recommended the Nike Lunarglide+ 2s.  I ended up ordering them from Nike.com because they allow returns up to 30 days for any reason.  I wanted to be able to really run in the shoes before deciding whether to keep them.   So far I have run in them three times and I feel good.  No shin splints, no pain in my right leg, and no major back pain when I wake up in the morning.  I will withhold judgement for a couple weeks, but I feel like we have a winner here.  I am crossing my fingers.  My husband is too because he's sick of hearing me talk about shoes!

Even though I miss having purple on my shoes, I kind of like the neutrality of these shoes. 



I will save these shoes for running ONLY.  I can use the devil shoes for other activities, like weight training and cross training--which is on tap for TONIGHT!  Day 1 of the challenge continues...