Even Newer Kicks

I recently posted how much I love my $7 water shoes. What’s not to love: they were $7, they’re stark white, they’re light weight, there’s no giant heel, and…they’re $7. Well after about 20 miles the sole (at roughly the ball of my feet) was starting to look excessively worn. Granted I’m sure I’ll be able to get at least 100 miles out of them, but I realized that they were going to have a short life expectancy (did I mention they were only $7).

So on Saturday my wife and I were shopping for our friends’ baby showers (yes, I meant plural; apparently babies are the new black) and right next door was a Dicks Sporting Goods (what do you know, you drive a little out of the way to the right Babies R Us, and it just happens). I asked her if I could go in and just try on a few shoes, just to find out the right size, just in case I can find a great price online, you know, just in case. After I tried on a bunch I jotted down the sizes on a set of Saucony Kinvaras (yes, I insist on saying Kinvaras. It is Kinvara, but there are two of them in a pair) I liked and a set of Merrell Trail Gloves I liked. Then she told me I could buy a pair.

I was dumbfounded, I in all honesty, never expected that to happen. She was pushing me towards the Trail Gloves, even though they were the more expensive pair. Probably because she assumed I’d humbly lean away from them because of their price, that and the fact that I raved about them so much after my running class.

After (too) much deliberation, and a few laps around the store (all the while getting funny looks from the other patrons, but who’s going to say something to the 230lb man in tiny shoes). I decided on the Kinvaras. Granted I love the Trail Gloves, and actually like them better, but I know I’m not ready to really rack up miles on a shoe with so little shock absorption. And I wanted a shoe that I could wear in a race the following weekend. So again the rational part of me; the part that told me to take time off during injury, the part that me to research gait and stride, the part that kept me from getting overzealous and overtraining, that part told me to wait on the Trail Gloves. (So yes, I still want them, Merrell feel free to send me a trial pair.)

So I went with the Kinvaras. But before I could make it to the register my wife stopped me and made me put the shoes back. I could get a pair, but not of the neon orange variety. Despite my protests and my argument that I’d be safer in the brighter shoes, I walked out with the green on white pair.

That day was a Saturday, my long run day. So how better to try them out then to run farther than I had since my injury. I went to the (pretty flat) park near my house and churned out 3.4 miles at a quick pace, and felt great afterward.

Was it the flat park or the beautiful day that made me run so quick and easy? Was it the shoes or the placebo effect of the shoes? I doubt it. It was probably just the excitement of both the shoes and the day.

They were light, very light. I didn’t feel myself heel striking, well maybe for a little when I was distracted and lazy. I was surprised as to how small the toe box was. I had gotten used to the roominess of my water shoes. I think this may have contributed to the muscle fatigue in my shins, because I found myself fighting against the upper of the shoe. There was much more cushioning, so I experimented with my footfalls; landing flat, landing on the outside, etc. to see if I could still feel the difference. And I could (yea), so the cushion does not dull my sense of the ground.

Though I do think I’d have run faster if the shoes were bright orange.