Some runners like to rotate sneakers, try new things, get new kicks when the mileage is up.
Not me.
I treat my running sneakers as if they were an extension of my own feet. I don’t rotate (not even with another pair of Newtons) and I don’t even think about trying anything new (if it’s not broke, I’m sure as hell not fixing it). So when I know deep down they are losing their life, it takes me some time to accept their eventual fate. Maybe it was rain drops pelting my sock through multiple tears in the upper mesh, or maybe it was the fact that I was basically running on 3 lugs (my model only had 4 to begin with), but I was finally ready…
Let me take you on a flashback for a moment to explain how I got into Newtons in the first place, and shed light on why I’m such a die hard fan.
Way back when we first started this whole running thing (yes, we were once newbies too), we ran in Nike Pegasus. They were a stability shoe, which I thought I needed since I over-pronate.
Looking back, the problem (for me at least) was that the bulky stability shoe:
1. didn’t teach me anything
2. didn’t correct my form in any way
I continued to heel strike, jamming the cushioned heel into the pavement every single step while we trained for our first marathon in 2010.
Once we upped the mileage, my tendons couldn’t take it anymore. My foot and ankle was so weak from being dependent on the shoe that it couldn’t carry me over the longer distance.
This significantly impacted both our performances at out first marathon, and soon after, we began to seriously shop new shoes.
Newton was relatively new around town, but The Runner’s Edge (our local running store) carried them. After much research and talking, we went for the flashy new shoes that required us to change everything we thought we knew about running at the time (which looking back, wasn’t very much!)
You may have heard of the Newton lugs. (They had 4, now they have 5 for a more stable landing area.) The lugs simply promote a midfoot strike by giving you a raised cushiony area to land on.
So with the help of our friends at the Runners Edge, and our own research, we retaught ourselves how to run.
We’ve been running injury free and faster ever since.
Back to today in the running store.
I march right in holding my tattered old sneakers and tell Sal (our local runner store worker/elite runner/musician–yes, he’s as cool as he sounds) I need a new pair of Newton Distance in a size 7.5. He doesn’t question anything (because he knows this entire story) and brings me these.
I questioned them initially:
So, how’s this 5th lug? Pretty awesome. More stable surface.
Are they heavier than my old ones? They feel heavier. No (he did humor me by weighing them in each hand)
The tongue is different. Yeah, it’s less bulky and won’t chafe.
Luckily Sal is as nice as he is cool, so he answered every ridiculous question patiently.
I haven’t taken the new pair out on the roads yet, but I have to say I am excited. Just look at them!
But still, when I passed the donation bin on the way out, I couldn’t drop the old ones in. Is it because we’ve been through so much together? I hope so, otherwise this is just ridiculous.
Do you have a ridiculous attachment to your running sneakers, or do you change it up all the time?
Do you run in Newtons?
Please share your running sneaker stories in the comments!
