I ran the Arizona Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon (which has gone totally underreported) in a pair of grey and red Asics 2130s and up until last week I couldn’t bring myself to wear them again. It was really quite strange, I would put all my running gear on and then pick up the marathon shoes, look at them wistfully and then put them down and grab one of the other pairs of shoes in the rotation. While we’re on the subject of my shoe rotation, Candis thinks it’s excessive that I have 6 pairs of shoes in the current rotation. Back me up here guys, I think you need at least 6 pairs. What’s excessive is having PMS 12 times a year.Last week before one of my runs, I placed the marathon shoes back in the closet but decided that I was just being silly. You can’t retire a perfectly good pair of shoes that only have 175 miles on them just because they carried you through your first marathon, right? So, I put them on and ran in them. I think it was the right decision.
It’s going to be up to you guys to provide the humor and run on sentences today because I’m going to be short (story of my life). So let’s hear it, have any of you ever had any strange attachment issues to a particular pair of running shoes? How many shoes are in your current rotation?
6 shoes? 6 SHOES?! Seems slightly excessive to me. I mean, isn't that somewhat effeminate of you? Or, is this you, "coming out?" ;) I only have 2 in the rotation.
ReplyDeleteAfter my 1st marathon, I did retire my shoes...but it was because they really did have a lot of miles on them! People have told me to retire not only my shoes, but also my running attire, socks, etc., after Boston. We'll see.
Assuming you are the world-reknowned shoe evaluator we have been led to believe you are, especially since it appears shoe companies are falling over themsleves to send you free shoes to review, then I would not consider six shoes excessive. In fact, I would say that keeping up with the accurate mileage of all six pairs is indeed a triumph. Again, assuming you are succeeding at this. What's for lunch?
ReplyDelete6 pairs of shoes? Let the Imelda Marcos jokes begin.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I still have my D-Tag on my marathon shoes.
Imelda Marcos? I had to Google that to find out who she was and I have to say that the fact that you obviously knew who she was far outweighs my having 6 pairs of shoes.
ReplyDelete6 shoes...wow. There is a movie called Confessions of a shopaholic. Are you looking to be part of a sequel? And to think that I was feeling a little bit guilty when I brought home a second pair. The next question that gets to be asked is how many shirts, socks and shorts do you have in rotation for running?
ReplyDeleteI have three pairs in rotation.
ReplyDeleteYou're right though. Having PMS 12 times a year is excessive. That's why I have it only once. It just happens to last twelve months.
I kept my state track shoes and my first marathon shoes for a while. then one day I decided they needed to be 'offered up' to the running Gods, so I burned them. it wasn't quite what I had expected.
ReplyDeletenow I just recycle them. much less dramatic.
I wore the girl version of Asics 2130 for my first marathon last fall, and I couldn't STOP wearing them. It's like I didn't want to retire them after we'd been through so much together.
ReplyDelete650 miles later, and I finally got some new ones last weekend. Doubt I'll be able to give the Asics to Goodwill though.
Oh, and 6 pairs of running shoes is insane.
Sorry, I read the FRONT PAGE of the newspaper...not just the funnies.
ReplyDeleteI have about 12 shoes in rotation. I have various sizes (7.5 to 8.5 depending on the day/how swollen my feet might be). And I have sneakers for nice weather, yucky weather and back ups that are starting their rotation and others about to be ejected into the "wash the dog/car" pile of sneakers. Your 6 in rotation make me look pathetic (or else really wealthy:-)
ReplyDeleteI did not wear my first marathon sneakers for about 2 months...then suddenly the spell was broken.
Tammy
My strange attachment is that I won't throw out my old shoes if I've run a big race in them. I still have my first pair of marathon shoes sitting in my closest. It's not like I could actually run in them now, but I can't throw them out!
ReplyDeleteI have 4 pairs in rotation and am thinking of adding a 5th - I feel much better about this decision after reading this post.
ReplyDeleteThink of your race shoes as lucky not sacred - they are to be used often so that their swiftness will rub off positively on you.
6 pairs. Geez. At least PMS is free.
ReplyDeleteI usually have 2 pairs of shoes in rotation. Once they get slightly worn, I give them to a worthy cause (my mother).
Jebus! SIX pairs?!
ReplyDeleteI have enough trouble keeping the mileage on the two pairs I have in rotation.
I've forgotten which pair carried through my first marathon - how terribly unsentimental is that?
"Candis thinks it’s excessive that I have 6 pairs of shoes in the current rotation. Back me up here guys, I think you need at least 6 pairs."
ReplyDeleteUh...hmm...well, Vanilla, it's like this...6 pairs of running shoes is just about right...for a woman!
Dude, I have three pairs...one nice dress shoes for the monkey suit, one running pair for my dose of self-abuse, and one pair of sneakers for tooling around in.
And as much as my wife wished different things, that is the totality of my rotation.
Hence, :::flashes man card::: proof of my manliness.
6 pairs...time to turn in your man card.
How many running bras do you have?
ReplyDeleteYikes. I just got a new pair because my feet were getting wet during my runs. Not from the water coming in the top of my foot, but actually through the sole.
ReplyDelete6 pairs? I think you need to start lying and just calling it 6 shoes. That way, anyone half-smart (read: actually reads more in the paper than just the funnies) will think you have 3 pairs, and will only make fun of you for half as long.
6 pairs is crazy! I've got 3 pair in rotation and that is enough.
ReplyDeleteFor whatever reason I don't have probs parting with my kicks too much. But if my Garmin died . . .that would be a different story.
Three in rotation and 2 old pairs for cross-training. They are each special and important in their own way.
ReplyDeleteTurn in your man card now!
ReplyDelete6 pairs of shoes? My God what for? Now if we're talking bikes, well then that's another story.
ReplyDeleteJust throw some new inserts in them and be done with it. I have different shoes for different terrain (??-that's what I tell myself, anyway). I hear the spenco inserts are good. I would never turn to guys for support on buying shoes... (just look in their closets at their 6 pair).
ReplyDeleteI agree that PMS 12 times a year is excessive. ;)
ReplyDeleteThree shoes in the rotation, but I also have three pairs of racing shoes and two pairs of trail running shoes that I am not counting as part of the rotation.
ReplyDeleteSIX? That's insane. I have one pair in rotation, and another pair that I use as a back up in case something horrific happens to the first (like my shoes deciding to spontaneously combust). My shoe routine:
ReplyDeletebuy new shoes.
run 500 miles.
throw out old pair of shoes.
rinse. repeat.
What can I say? I'm strictly monogamous.
Hmm, 6 pairs a year sounds like you get that "oooh, shiny" feeling every 2 months, which ain't bad!
ReplyDeleteYour very wittty.....My weirdness starts early in the morning but with my running shoes I guess I'm NOT that weird. I usually retire them to the garage to mow grass in them. I have many piles in the garage that are stained with green, maybe I should of worn them yesterday. LOL....
ReplyDeleteI'm juggling four pairs, but if I whored myself out the way you do, I'd probably have more.
ReplyDeleteI think when I was having some attachment issues to a pair of shoes, Nitmos told me to stop being a pansy. But that guy's an idiot.
I only have two pairs in my rotation, but I'm not a marathoner! The PMS comment is simply awesome, and lends credence to you haveing 12 pairs in your rotation. Just make sure to be really crabby when you are putting them on or trying to decide which ones to wear.
ReplyDeleteCandis: I'm just kidding really. I have no idea how you guys put up with all that feminine stuff. Then again, you don't have a prostate and that's something that I don't look forward to having checked on a regular basis...
And to Nitmos comment, I would also like to know how many Bros or Manssieres you are using, and how many of those belong to Candis?
ReplyDeleteAfter a post like this in which you admit that you have so many pairs of shoes that even a person of the FEMALE persuasion thinks it excessive ...
ReplyDelete... well, after that, Sir, your shoes are not the only thing that can't go "back in the closet".
Because you just outed yourself.
Strange attachment to a pair of shoes? Well, after retiring a pair from running - after 8000 miles! - I wore them for walking around and then, when they were to bad for that, mowing the lawn. 25000 miles in one pair.
ReplyDeleteCandis is right, 6 pairs is a bit too much. I usually only have two in rotation--three if I'm transitioning out a pair. Come to think of it, I don't think I've owned six pairs of running shoes in my life.
ReplyDeleteHold on a sec.
Just counted, I've owned seven pairs of running shoes and I have two more in the mail as of today.
I have 2 pairs in rotation!!!
ReplyDeleteHow many man purses do you have in rotation dude?
Just stumbled over here from "I Signed up for This?!"
ReplyDeleteI only wear one pair of running shoes at once... bad, I know! I have separate gym shoes, but can't run in them.
I read in Women's Health this month that the average marathoner goes through 2 pairs of shoes during training. That's WOMEN'S
ReplyDeleteHealth. I don't know who they asked, but think about it. Conveniently, I myself have just two pairs, plus one pair I'm transitioning out despite them clawing onto my ankeles and begging to be spared.
Hand in your man card.
ReplyDeleteMy running shoes are good for usually 800+ miles before they need to be retired. After I buy a new pair, the old running shoes become the new gym shoes; the old gym shoes become the new lawncare shoes; the old lawncare shoes are donated to charity.
I fail to see the reasoning to need more than a single pair of shoes to run in unless you include high-traction off-road running shoes (which aren't really the same as road running shoes).