In Which I Buy New Running Shoes

Yesterday morning, I finally had an opportunity to get over to Fleet Feet and buy new running shoes. I've been buying my running shoes from Fleet Feet for years now (though I defected to Univeral Sole a few times because I had a coupon). In the past, walking into that store--a store clearly dedicated to serious runners, where serious runners are the people fitting you for shoes, I always felt a bit intimidated. It was like I was falsely declaring myself to be a runner. They would ask how many miles a week I was running, and I would round up (way up), saying I was probably running between 10 and 15 miles a week when I was actually running more like 6 miles a week. If that. A pair of running shoes is typically good for about 500 miles. So I was basically buying new running shoes every two years.

I'm sure that, in actuality, the people at stores like Fleet Feet or Universal Sole could really care less whether you're running 6 miles a week in your shoes or whether you're running 100 miles a week in your shoes. The act of buying running shoes at $95 a pop is a commitment to some sort of healthy lifestyle, and who really cares whether that includes walking, running, or just browsing the grocery store? Plus, since I started racing and running longer distances, I've mostly found that experienced runners are pretty damn encouraging of new runners. I ran a 5K in March with some wicked fast runners, and they all waited the 15 or so minutes it took me to join them at the finish line to yell me in.

In any case, the experience of buying these shoes was different. For one thing, I just bought a pair of running shoes in January. But between the 200 miles I ran training for the Lakefront 10-Miler and the 250+ miles I've run since purchasing the Nike+ in May, I was due for shoes. Or overdue. I mentioned to the sales guy that I am doing the half in a few weeks. He didn't even ask the weekly mileage question--he just guessed that I was logging about 20-25 miles a week, a figure that happens to be pretty accurate. We started talking about long runs and breaking in shoes and running mechanics. And for the first time, I really felt like a runner.

I went for a four-mile run in the new shoes yesterday. The jury is still out. My old shoes felt so comfortable and familiar. These shoes just feel...new.

In other running-related news, I did a 12-mile long run this weekend. It felt fine. I certainly finished feeling like I could run farther if I had to--like if someone really big were chasing me. I clearly remember the feel of the last long run I did before the 10-Miler--a nine-mile run that felt simply awful. This felt better than that. So that's a positive. However, my pace was abysmally slow. I had lofty ideas of trying to finish this half within a certain time goal, but now I think I should maybe just focus on finishing before they kick the slow people off the course!