A friend fades

"They" say running shoes should last 300-500 miles, but I generally err on the side of caution and call it quits closer to 300 than 500, especially since in terms of size for a runner I'm pretty big (not clydesdale big, but not Samuel Wanjiru big either). I try to keep track of all the miles I put on shoes but I fail at it some. Therefore, I'll be pretty sure that a pair of shoes is ready to hit the big treadmill in the sky but not always positively sure.

There are a couple tell-tale signs that my shoes are reaching the end of their useful life. One way is that the laces won't stay tied. True, that's easily remedied by tying a double knot, but that's just putting off the inevitable. Another way I can tell my shoes are about finished is that they start to squeak when I walk in them.

I've been running in a pair of red Asics Gel-Cumulus 11s for some time now. I ran my last half marathon in Las Vegas in them. I've run training runs in them, and I've run all of my 10+ mile runs in them for the last few months. They're my favorite, most broken-in, most comfortable, most reliable shoes, even though I have two more pairs of the exact same shoes in different colors.

So when I was walking from my car to the trail to start my 1:45:00 timed run this past Sunday and they squeaked with each step I felt sad. My favorite pair of shoes have turned into Old Yeller, infected with rabies and forcing me to shoot them. I'll try to keep the double diseases of age and use from ravaging them too quickly, but it's just a matter of time before I have to take them out back and come back inside alone. That model of shoe has been discontinued and the Gel-Cumulus 12s are making their way into stores, but while I can still get red Gel-Cumulus 11s another pair just wouldn't be the same. Sigh.


My favorite shoe as I choose to remember it.
In other news, I did an easy three miles outdoors after dinner last night. It wasn't a great run because I didn't wait long enough after dinner to run and it was pretty warm out, but that's ok. The main thing about the run is that I discovered spring stinks. Not figuratively, but literally. What's up with that?