New Shoes!

 Ordinarily I wouldn't take the time to write about getting new shoes. As previously mentioned, however, I developed left foot pain when running a few weeks ago.  The pain lasted a day and a half and self resolved. I stayed off the treadmill for a week, and after 5-6 days of rest without pain I decided to test my foot to see how it did. Unfortunately, after 15 minutes of running, the pain returned. I've decided to start by running a mile per day and walk for 20 minutes in order to gradually get back into training. So far that plan has worked. I will gradually increase my running distance until I get to a point where the pain is gone. Sarah said the pain is likely from my shoes, and I agree. I even started to get a little discomfort in my right foot last night.

The main reason I am posting about this is because of the shoe buying experience. I am currently running in Brooks Levitate 2, which when I bought them the Levitate 3 was already out. The Levitate 4 is currently available, but the reviews seem to be quite poor. Essentially people are saying they are completely different shoes than the 2 & 3. Because of this, I'm a bit hesitant to buy them off the internet without trying them on. This leaves me in a bit of a conundrum as I'm not sure which shoe to get instead. So for the first time in a long time, I am going to go to a shoe store to buy shoes.

My neighbor used to own a running store (he introduced me to the Levitate 2), and so I asked his recommendation for a good running store to visit. He gave me the name of a local store not far away. I didn't have any alternative plans for the Levitate, so I decided to start off by trying the 4. I thought they looked and felt pretty similar to the 2. The tongue is a bit different and the back of the shoe around the ankle is a bit narrower, but otherwise I thought the shoe felt the same. I tried a couple of other pairs (another from Brooks, and one from Asics) but ended up getting the Levitate 4. I could have likely walked out of the store with multiple different pairs and ended up happy. But I've been with Brooks Levitate for almost a year at this point and have been happy with them so I didn't see any reason to switch since I could only tell a minimal difference between the 2 and 4. Of interest, I got size 12 where previously I wore 11.5. My initial Levitate 2 was an 11.5 and fit well, but my second Levitate 2 was an 11.5 and kind of tight. I thought the Levitate 4 was a bit tight in the 11.5 and the 12 was more comfortable so I went with it. At some point I might try a pair of Nike Air Zoom or the newer brand On from Switzerland looks promising. For now I'm sticking with Brooks which I enjoyed. It is nice to have a local store to visit for times when I want to try on a pair. And I found out by accident that the company I work for has an online discount at the store for future purchases, which is nice, especially considering I plan on getting new shoes every 4-6 months now based on this experience with the pain. 

I increased my running distance from 1 mile per outing to two, and without pain with my new shoes. If this week goes well at 2 miles per day, I plan to resume my previous running regimen, following the 80:20 rule of course.