Archive for April 1st, 2008

Impatient as I am, within two hours of my blog whine about treadmills and gait analysis, it had morphed into simply “I want new shoes”. So I drove out to Bryn Mawr Running Co. because they’re a reputable shop with good people working there. I figured I could just try some on, didn’t have to buy anything. (yeah, right)

I brought my 400-mile 2120s so they could check out the wear pattern and I explained the whole feeling-my-arch-and-long-runs thing. She confirmed that I’m in the right type of shoes, and looking at the sole she said I’m a light runner since there isn’t much wear and that I don’t have any weirdness going on, since the wear pattern was smack down the center. She also said I will live a long prosperous life and that I was a cow in my former one. She didn’t really, but it would have been great if she did.

Out came the shoe boxes and after much worry (switching running shoes freaks me out) I narrow it down to Adrenaline 8s, which strangely enough, I need a wide width in, even though I have some Adrenaline 7s that are regular width and my Asics have always been regulars, too. Vanity aside, I tried to resist treating it like buying pants, where a bigger size makes you feel like you have a honking big butt. I bought ‘em.

I also tried on some Mizuno Wave Inspire 4s, and they felt great too – and since I’m ready to put all my Asics to rest (or only use for shorter runs), when I got home I ordered them from runningwarehouse.com for $20 less than the store. Hey, I did my “support your store” bit by buying one pair at full price…it ain’t gonna happen for two.

I really hope one of these shoes works as my favorite shoe, even though I think both are super ugly with their disco metallic trim and I will forever miss my black Asics and be pissed off at Brooks for offering black to the guys but not the girls – but such are the sacrifices of a runner.

To close, I took the new sneaks out for a tempo this morning and loved them! Very comfortable. Wish I could say the same about the tempo, but the rain and wind made it uncomfortably “comfortably hard”.

And my latest lesson learned is: glasses with clear lenses are in theory great for rainy days…as long as you’re going in one direction. Turn around and the whole theory goes to shit.

So much for clever ideas.