Running...Shoes...

So after running 6 miles today, I'm officially 12 weeks through my preparation for the Baltimore Marathon (10 weeks of pre-marathon-training, essentially to get me into shape for marathon training, and 2 weeks of a 16-week marathon prep cycle). I haven't been doing the best job of getting all my runs in each week, mostly for two reasons. There have been several occasions where I have woken up to run and promptly gone back to bed with the intention of running in the evening, and then not doing it when the time comes 15 hours or so later. I have also skipped runs in favor of rest because I was suffering from the aches and pains of getting back into running shape (no major pain or discomfort, so if I had just kept at it, it probably would have gotten better much faster than stretching it out over several weeks). I attribute most of these difficulties to my choice in running shoes.

Nike Free Run+

A few weeks before I was going to start my pre-marathon-training training, I went to the store to find myself a pair of shoes. After trying on several pairs of Asics, New Balance, and Nikes, I decided on the Nike Free Run+. I had heard a lot of really good things about running in these shoes, and when I tried them out in the store, they felt great. As they are supposed to give you a barefoot running feel, there isn't a whole lot of heel support. What had felt like pretty decent cushioning when I tried them on proved to be virtually non-existent. I think they would be great to run in if I was running on a more forgiving surface than cement or asphalt. To be honest, I probably wore these shoes for too long in hopes that they would get better, mostly because Nike released a newer version that was available to be customized on nikeid.com, and I thought it would be really cool to have a spiffy pair of kicks for my first marathon. Finally I realized that I needed to worry more about the comfort of my shoes rather than the appearance.

Nike Lunarglide+ 2

So, before I bought a new pair of shoes, I tried running in the shoes that I use to work out in, the Nike Lunarglide+ 2 which by nature, are supposed to be running shoes. The cushioning on these shoes is ridiculous. It feels like you're basically running on air, which is awesome, but after a while, I decided that they weren't firm enough and started looking for a replacement.

Saucony Kinvara

I had had my eye on Saucony's ProGrid Kinvara for some time, and everything I had read about these shoes (including what I had read in my friend Jason Leman's blog here) had been very complimentary. I thought, if someone who runs 50k races for fun (which by the way is nuts) thinks these shoes are great, and so many reviewers had called them "the best shoes they've ever run in" I figured that I should at least check them out. My decision was made a very simple one when I found them on sale on Zappos.com, and with free shipping both ways (I can be very impulsive when buying things online, especially when free shipping and no sales tax is involved).

A quick note about Zappos, not only do they have free shipping no matter how much (or little) you order, they also have amazing customer service that upgrades your shipping service at no extra cost. So basically I payed the price of the shoes on sale, and got the shoes the next day for no extra charge. That's great customer service.

Ok, back to the shoes. Immediately when I pulled these shoes out of the box and put them on, I could tell why everyone had been so high on them. For starters, they're incredibly lightweight (8 ounces), but also surprisingly cushioned and supportive. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I've ever run in (I don't have much of a track record in this department, but that's besides the point). The fit of these shoes is pretty snug, which I personally like because I don't like my feet sliding around inside the shoe while I run. If there's any complaint I can make about them is that they don't have the best arch support, but that's a pretty easy fix. Needless to say, after several weeks of running in these shoes, I decided to buy another pair so I could cycle them in my training and thus prolong their life, and wouldn't you know it, they were still on sale on Zappos, and once again, I got them the next day with no extra cost. I love Zappos!

So there's the story of my running shoes experience. More to come on my training progress once I've logged a few more miles...