Death to the Mizunos!!
Have no worries, the Mizunos aren’t a family I hate or anything to that effect - they’re just the brand of my last pair of running shoes. I’ve known for a while that my old pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 2s were long due for replacement, but I’ve never been good at forcing myself to get to stores for anything. After reading my friend Greg’s blog entry about his new pair of shoes, I decided to head over to the Buffalo Fleet Feet and finally get a new pair.
Before I headed over, I dug out the receipt for my last pair and saw that I’d purchased them at the end of last July, just over a year and a month ago. I pulled out my Garmin Forerunner 201, reviewed the runs stored in it, did some quick math and realized I’d put nearly 475 miles on the previous pair! Sites recommend replacing running shoes between 400-500 miles, so the mileage just confirmed what I already knew - I needed a new pair.
My previous pair of running shoes were Mizuno Wave Inspire 2s, white with red and black coloring on them. I liked them and they fit well, so I asked to see similar shoes. While there is now a Wave Inspire 3, I was told it’s a little bit wider & could feel the difference when I tried them on. The store still had some Wave Inspire 2s though, but only in white with yellow and black coloring, much like the 3s linked to in this paragraph. They’re not my favorite color and so I remarked to the girl helping that they were “ugly”. She quickly responded with “comfort over color”, which is true, and either something she believed in, or used proficiently to sell me a pair of shoes. (While she thankfully looked nothing like him, she immediately reminded of Al Bundy.) I wasn’t about to muck with the tried and true fit of my previous pair, so I picked them up anyways.
I plan to run the Rochester 1/2 Marathon in two weeks and hope they’re broken in by then. I’ll try them tonight for a quick 4 mile run and tomorrow morning for an 8 mile run. If I like the, I’ll stick with them for a 16 mile one this weekend, assuming I’m up for it.
While I was there, I also picked up an amphipod RunLite 4 Bottle Hydration Belt. I’d been thinking about getting a Fuel Belt Brand belt with 4 or 6 bottles, which they had one of in my size during my last visit there, but they had none in my size today. Hopefully a belt will eliminate the need to stash liquid and Shot Bloks in mailboxes or run loops back to home during my long runs. Now that I have it here, I may also be able to carry my cell phone in the included pouch. It’s going to be a little weird running with it, but for $40, I’m going to give it a shot this weekend on the planned 16 mile run.