GEARing Up for 2013 – Shoes

Are you tired of me talking about my favorite things? I sure hope not… cause I have a few more days to drag this on before I high tail it outta the country. I am SUPER excited about todays subject… lets talk shoes! I’m even linking up with Laura and Mel.

Before we talk about shoes, let me talk a little about Mel. I have a HUGE girl crush on her. Girlfriend is super hot. For realz. And she runs a lot. I got to meet her back in November when we did a meet up with some STL Bloggers. Not only is she super hot in her instagram selfies, she looks even better in person. It’s not all in the filters people!! She has some pretty sweet dance moves too. And girlfriend will walk for blocks (in heels) to a dive bar just to find an ATM to pay for valet parking. Because that’s how she rolls.

Now, back to the shoes.

 When I first started training for my marathon a few years back my husband bought me a pair of Nike Pegasus shoes. I loved them, mostly because they had the Nike Plus thingy in it. Except that Nike Plus thing is so worthless when it comes to tracking miles. Being .10 miles short of a mile adds up when you are training for a freaking marathon. Biggest “oops” moment ever…. I wore these for a long time. They eventually became my “fun run” shoes after I wore them out… see them here in my hardcore before pic from the Color Run.

I even bought a second pair of Pegasus’ when mine got too many miles on them. Sidenote: I never EVER thought I would use running shoes so much that I would wear them out. Funny.

My second pair of Pegasus’ and Payton’s first pair of Nikes.

I ran in these for a good while, but off and on I would have issues with my tailor’s bunion acting up. This pair lasted me longer than my first because when I started CrossFit I wasn’t running as much. Speaking of CrossFit… my favorite shoes for CrossFit are the Reebok Nano 2.0. I have them in black with pink, but I am dying to get a pair in all pink.

I used my Therafit shoes for awhile, but had the bunion issue come up again. These are great shoes, just a little too small in the toe box for me.

I also tried out the Under Armour Spine shoes. I really did love these. They had the right amount of support and cushion, but again… that dang toe box was too small for my tailor’s bunion.

I can wear both of these shoes for short periods of time comfortably, but when I started adding mileage I realized I needed to find something that was going to get me through my half marathon training. So I went up to Big River Running and literally tried on nearly every shoe they had in the store. I was about to give up when the lady said she had an idea. She came out of the store room with a little slice of heaven: Brooks Glycerin 10’s

These shoes felt amazing from the first time I put them on. They have support and cushion. They come in wide, so there is enough room in the toe box for my ugly bunion. I have been running in these for about a month now and have had zero issues with pain. Plus they are cute. I have heard people rave on and on about Brooks, and thought it was just another shoe company. Nope. It is seriously the best running shoe I’ve worn, hands down. I plan on wearing these beautiful kicks until they wear out. and then I’ll buy more. I also plan on setting a PR at my half marathon this spring. I have an awesome friend running it with me. She’s a bit faster than me, but this is going to be her first half marathon. I’m SO excited to run with her. Hopefully we can push each other. I’ll push her the distance and she can push me for speed. Teamwork, baby!

What are your favorite running/workout shoes?