New Shoes, a bit of a Suprise

This morning we were on a mission to get haircuts for the boys, and as is typical of our family this little adventure took a bit longer than expected. By the time the boys were trimmed and we were ready to take on the rest of the day, it was lunchtime! The little guys were great, and I can't say they were solely responsible for the entire morning being devoted to accomplishing one thing. They are also looking very cute, but I realize I'm less than objective here...

The second thing I wanted to accomplish was to check out some running shoes, and hopefully buy a new pair. After their haircuts, the four of us went into the Running Room in the Beaches. It was not busy at all, and the store was smaller than I expected. I knew right away that the chances of me walking out of there with a new pair of runners was slim to none. Nevertheless, I tried on a couple of pairs of shoes, though they both were size twelve and obviously too small. It was worth stopping by, I suppose, but the young girl working there did not seem to have much experience or confidence in here abilities to recommend shoes. Too bad...

After lunch we piled in the car and headed off to Markham to visit Running Free. This store was much bigger with a great selection of shoes, as expected. I was helped by another young lady, but in this case she definitely seemed to know what she was talking about and was a great help. I tried on seven or eight different pairs of shoes, did some running on the treadmill in the store, and took a good long time trying on a variety of shoes: Asics, Saucony, New Balance, Mizuno, Brooks were the brands I tried, and a couple of different models in a few of them. In the end it came down to a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 4's and Saucony ProGrid Ride's. Miraculously, the Mizunos were available in size 12.5, and although the Saucony's were 13 they fit really well. The Brooks Adrenaline's were a close third, but they felt like there was not enough cushioning in them for the long haul. The Saucony's had probably the best cushioning, and I would have taken them had the Mizuno's not felt so good. In reading up on shoe selection, I continuously came across advice that said you should look for shoes that make you feel like you aren't even wearing anything, and these hit the mark. On top of that, they felt awesome when I was running on the treadmill, and they are super light. I will test them out on the treadmill at the gym before deciding whether or not they are keepers since I can still return them as long as they are not used outdoors, but I can't see why these won't work. They have the right balance of cushioning and stability, with a little bit of arch support and I am hopeful they will be THE ones. It's funny, I never would have considered Mizuno in the past, but going into this ready to try anything and not wanting to limit my options I think I ended up with a potentially great shoe.

As far as the foot is concerned I am still feeling pain, but I think things are slowly getting better. I think the key for me to getting back to running is to take it easy and keep my pace really slow for the foreseeable future. I hope to begin this week, starting with a test of the new shoes on the treadmill, what will become my winter of base building. I also want to get into some leg strengthening, but I think I will hold off on that for another couple of weeks while the foot continues to heal.