So long, and thanks for all the miles!

When returned from Disney I left behind my running shoes.  After logging 400 miles in 4 months they were worn out.  I was a bit sentimental about leaving them behind since they took me through much of my marathon training and my first full marathon.  I've mentioned before that shoes wear out after 300-400 miles.  In truth, I believe those particular shoes should have been replaced closer to the 300 mile mark.  How could I tell?  My feet and knees began to hurt more than they should have after long runs.

Marathon running and training is particularly hard on running shoes.  While training, I spent 3+ hours in the shoes without giving them a chance to decompress.  During the race itself I was in them for over 5 hours.

Now at 1071 miles, I'm about to start using the shoes I got for Christmas.  They'll be stiff for the first few runs.  I expect that they'll feel great after about 30 miles.

The new shoes will be my third pair of Brooks Defyance 4 running shoes.  When I first started running I used Nike Free Run + shoes.  While the Nikes were good for short runs, the toe box was too small.  During longer runs I kept smashing my toes against the top of the shoe.  This resulted in black and lost toenails.  I went to JackRabbit sports to get advice on which shoes would be best for me.  There they filmed me running on a treadmill and slowed it down to determine how my feet landed.  This allowed the staff member to determine what sort of support I needed.  He gave me a few options and let me run on the treadmill in each of them.  If you want to be serious about running, I suggest going to a running store to learn which shoes are best for you.  Doing so saved my toenails!

Unused shoes (all shiny and new)

The yellow wore down to black in the old shoes.  

Also, notice that the grooves aren't as deep as they had  been.