Running is almost an affordable sport/exercise/pastime. Well, except for the shoes.
Every runner and running shoe combination is different, but most experts set a baseline of about 300 miles for a shoe. At that rate, I’d be replacing my shoes pretty much once a month. That’s not so terrible, right? Well, retail price for any middle of the road shoe these days is $120. Going for discounts and closeouts, its hard to find good stuff for under $80. Going for the high end, and retail starts at $160 and still finds ways to climb.
I’m frugal (and/or cheap) so I really push my kicks to their absolute limit. I tend to get at least 500 miles out each pair. Even with that many miles, the shoes on the outside still look pretty new due all road miles and my climate. They also tend to feel ok; at least until you try on the follow up new pair and realize how thrashed the old ones were.
How I keep track of miles? Oh, that’s super painless with Garmin Connect. Set up a profile for your shoe and then it’s just 2 clicks to tag the shoes to a workout. I’ve tried to track miles for shoes in the past, but was never successful. Doing it with the Garmin makes it pretty much a no brainer.
Above are 2 recent pairs. The Saucony’s where a great pair of shoes; rode them all the way to 671 miles. They wore great and still even felt good. The ASICS (with the distinction of being the most expensive shoes I’ve ever purchased, lawd have mercy) still have some more miles to go, as they’re only at 420 miles. They are a little heavy, but super cushy. They’ve been demoted to the back up pair.
I’m curious about the wear pattern around the big toe on both those shoes. I checked some other kicks I have lying around and don’t see a similar pattern. If it was only one pair or two pairs from the same maker, I’d be tempted to just wave it off. But 2 different shoes, back to back, seems like there might be a problem there.
My current daily drivers are Saucony Guide 10s. They’re feeling pretty good. They’re super tight when they go on, but stretch out to be comfortable during the run. I do kinda wonder if they run a little different size-wize than the Ride shoes that have been my recent go-tos.
Geez, I guess it’s time to put some more shoes on my wishlist, the holidays are coming fast.
Leave a Reply