New Shoes!!! :-) :-) :-)

My pair of Pumas have seen me faithfully through 750 odd kilometers and though they still seem to have a lot of life left in them, conventional wisdom tells you that running shoes ought to be retired every 500 kilometers or so. (My first ones saw me through 1150 km). So last weekend I treated myself to a pair of new running shoes and boy! am I kicked with them!!! 

I went to my "candy store", Running Lab, the only running specialty store my city has to offer. Now, I have never been fitted for running shoes to date - my previous pair of shoes had been bought online -(yes, really!) so it was pretty cool to see them measure the width & length of the foot, gauge the arch as well as check my gait in order to pick the perfect pair.

It is common knowledge that when trying on running shoes you should ensure that there is about a thumb's width space between your big toe and the front of the shoe. This apparently is to prevent your shoes from knocking against the front of the foot during a run which usually results in blisters & black nails. My previous shoes have always been a snug fit and to date haven't given me any issues but this time around I decided to follow good advice and pick a pair that offered wiggle room in the front. I have quite long feet and normally wear a size 8/41 in regular footwear. Finding regular footwear is usually a task in itself. Most footwear brands in town stop at size 7/40 for women. Now this extra toe space bumped my shoe size up to 42.5 and the store assistants cheerily tells me I would have to go for a Men's shoe! Dismay!

I did find a really cool pair in the On Men's section and I tried them on, ran a few lengths in the shop's indoor track and was overall quite pleased with them. I find them super light and it does really feel like running on a cloud as the brand's tagline suggests. Read more about it here.

I broke them in today doing a few laps on the terrace of my building and a really fun speed drill functional football training workout with my husband. It was just half an hour of training and now I can't wait to get them out on the road.

P.S - heres a really informative article on buying new running shoes by runnersworld