The Shoes

Oh the shoes! The shoes. I wear one type of shoes Asics Gel GT 21##. I call them the ## because the last two digits change every year and every ten years they change that second digit too. I’ve more or less run in these shoes since they were GT 2010s. They are currently at 2130 so that’s about twelve years. I’ve strayed away once or twice lured away by some clever marketing scheme but I always come back. And of course during the summer I do a lot more trails so the trail shoes come out on the steep, muddy and rocky stuff.

I usually read every magazine article on shoe reviews and I always hunt for a bargain. But I always stick with what I know and don’t leave much to experimentation. When you have five mouths to feed, shoes can become quite an expense. I always try and get the most mileage I can out of my shoes. Usually near the end of the life of the shoe an unusual ache or pain crops up and that is the end of the shoe, on to a new pair. I use to get about 300 miles out of a pair. Now with being more consistent in training and a lot more frugal I can stretch it out to nearly 500 miles. My current pair is just over 400 miles so they are due for a change. Psychosomatically after looking at my mileage I can feel my shins ache.

I don’t know what it is but I guess the cushioning loses it rebound. I know that the outsole does wear thin and you end up with less tread. But my argument is this, if the shoes wear out gradually over time and there are barefoot runners out there with even less cushioning then my shoes. Why does my sorry ass have to change out shoes every 400 miles. I mean come on if I could run barefoot I would but I can’t but why can’t this gradual degrading of my cushioning end with my toes coming through the bottom instead of shin splints or sore knees. But I digress.

Up here in Canada, shoe retailers haven’t caught on to the fact that it is a global economy. Our Canadian dollar for the longest time was worth less than the US dollar at one point as low as 60 cents. These days it is about at par with the US dollar, dollar for dollar. My 2130s up here retail for about $149. I’ve seen them as high as $159 in the spring and as low as $139 in the winter. I live about twenty minutes from the border or the UPS guy knows to leave packages inside the door. In either case the same shoes are $95 USD. If I pay duty, I’m still ahead of the game

Ouch there goes the shooting pain in my shin. It doesn’t happen until after the run. Oh well. Good bye old friends it off to the shoe closet.