New Shoes

On Monday, I went into my local running store to buy some new shoes.  The ones I've been running in are a year old at this point, and have slowly started to feel their age.  On Saturday, while I was trying to run my 9 miles, I started feeling what I thought were blisters on the sides of my big toes forming, and by the end of the 8 1/2 miles I actually ended up completing, I couldn't run another step because they were bothering me so much.  And it didn't help matters that my legs were completely and totally dead thanks to a hardcore workout I put myself through the day before.  Probably not the smartest move to execute when coming back from a week of vacation.  But apparently I like to go big or go home.  Hahaha. 

When I went in to be fitted on Monday, I discovered that I'd actually gone down a size since last year's purchase, and after trying on a few different brands, I decided to go with something different and get the Nike Structure 17.  They felt good on my feet and I kind of liked the color combo as well, so I decided to just go for it knowing that the store has an awesome return/exchange policy.  I figured that giving them a whirl during my mid-week runs would be the perfect way to test them out before my next long run on Saturday. 

 Nike Structure 17

Unfortunately, after running 4 miles in them yesterday, I decided that something needed to be changed.  For some reason, the right shoe felt like there was a big bump underneath the insole that bothered my foot the entire time I was running.  The left one was fine, but I thought I'd still be better off bringing them back in to trade out before doing another 3 miles this morning.  While at the store, I did try another pair of Nike Structures -- which were totally fine and didn't have that same uneven sole as the first pair -- but after trying on the latest edition of the Asics Gel Kayano {which is what I've been running in this last year, and what I wore when I did my last half marathon}, I decided it might be best to stick with the familiarity of the feel of this shoe since my race is only 4 weeks away.  I still liked the Nikes, but they were definitely less "cushion-y" than the Kayanos, and thus felt a bit "flatter" while running in them.  I thought it would be best to go with a tried and true at this point in time and save the experimentation with other brands for later.  So that's what I did!  And then I went and ran my 3 miles at my favorite trail and the shoes did awesome.  :)

 Asics Gel Kayano 20

So, that is that.  Hopefully my feet will STILL be feeling awesome after doing my 10 miles this Saturday!  I'll leave you tonight with a blurred and out-of-focus shot of my trail from this morning.  I have to say -- running in a beautiful spot sure beats running anywhere else.    :)

{Happy Trails to You!}