Shoes!

Twenty two days until the Seattle Half Marathon, and I really feel like I am reliving last November with talks about shoes.  This time is different though for a variety of reasons.  I have realized a few things over the last month.  I really like a tighter fit on a shoe, and hate wide toe boxes.  I have a cute pair of every day shoes that I don't wear often, realizing only recently that it is the toe box that I dislike.  My New Balance shoes are nicely supportive and great for 5K races, are not appropriate for half marathons and long term use.  Reality is, I need way more support than those shoes provided, and again, wider toe box.  I scoured the internet, asked for the help of others, and now I should be having a new pair of shoes any day now.  This will be my third pair of Saucony Guide 6 shoes, and they will truly be a blessing.  The sad part is they are a soon to be two year old model, and I am hoping to continue finding them here and there.  Or, even better would be that the Guide 8 would be a shoe I like and find comfort in, something that the Guide 7 was lacking.  I guess I should have listened to Chewy and bought the ones I saw at the Seattle Rock n Roll trade show back in June.  Don't tell the 12 year old that she was right. 

Another thing that I have realized is that my knee is unhappy when I am wearing less supportive shoes.  The more I wore the New Balances, the worse the issues in my knee.  Add in a pair of cute worn out loafers, a pair of shoes with okay support but wide toe box, and the running shoes, and my knee would be screaming at me!  Even just one day of wear with any of those shoes was a recipe for disaster.  Out of curiosity, or maybe a little desperation, I pulled out my miled out Sauconys.  They were dead by the end of the Seattle Rock n Roll for distance racing, but have plenty of life in them for puttering around town like normal people.  My knee has been in heaven.  No pain!  No funny weird twinges.  All has been well.  And my feet have felt great as well.  This is why I decided to buy another pair of them.  I really dislike the color of them, white/blue/silver, which would be pretty if they didn't look just so boring.  The comfort makes it all worth it though. 

Every time I am out is another learning experience for me.  As of late, I have finally understood how much shoes make a difference.  My fear now is if I will have enough time to break in a new pair of shoes before a race.