my dream shoe?

i am days away from an entire year of being a runner. my first shoe purchase was my attempt to say: "i bought running shoes, now i need to use them." the first pair did not involve any research, it merely involved going to the mall and trying on a few pairs that landed in a price range that would not prompt strife in my marriage.

once it was established that i really was a runner again, and running would be a daily part of my life, i became more invested in wanting a dream shoe. based on having a good experience with a pair of saucony trail shoes, i gave sauconys a go by purchasing tangents. i was pretty pleased with these shoes. though not very comfortable to walk in because they rubbed the top of my feet, i did enjoy them for running and wore them for two marathons and a 50k. i was not pleased regarding how they responded to logging a few hundred miles, as they started to click due to wearing down to a hard plastic portion in the center of the outsole.

after the tangents i decided to give the nike free everydays a go. i really loved the way these shoes felt on my feet. but i had some difficulties during my first couple of long runs in them. i finally identified that the problem was related to the sock-liners the shoes came with. they collected sweat which would pool under the forefoot portion of my feet. on one long run the sock-liner in my right shoe actually sled to the right, twisted, and attempted to ride on top of my foot (that caused some issues). when i finally discovered the problem, i switched out the nike sock-liners with my old saucony sock-liners. i then found myself pretty pleased with these shoes.

yet i was still open to trying something different as the miles started piling up on my frees. i thought i would give a classic shoe a go. so i ordered a pair of the adidas supernova classics. the price seemed right, and reading that many have loved these shoes for years, i wanted to give them a go. after four days of running in these shoes i found myself starting my runs with pain in my left tibia and decided to face the music that it was time to let it heal. i had injured it a couple weeks prior but was hopeful that it would heal without me taking a break. after taking four weeks off i put the adidas back on and logged 18 miles over a day and a half. my tibia got pretty sore and i decided to give it some more recovery time. it was around this time that a friend offered the possibility that some of this was shoe related. i dismissed the suggestion, knowing that i had injured myself while wearing my frees.

this week as i returned to some running i became increasingly aware of how the adidas appeared to be pulling at me while i am running. i believe this is some kind of built in motion control feature. i started to question if this pulling sensation was irritating my leg. today i ran four miles in the adidas and then six in the nikes. the difference was gigantic. i am now aware that i had fully adjusted to the minimalist nature of the frees and i don't think i can go back to shoes that have major control features. i have no doubt now that the adidas do irritate my leg.

to rap up this long story, i have ordered my second pair of the nike free everydays (and a pair of montrail insoles). i am really thinking that i have discovered my dream shoe. if my opinion changes i will be sure to share :) it will be interesting to see what my opinion is after attempting to go 9 hours and 11 minutes on friday.

nike's hype: here