Life Cycles

I hear it's common for old running shoes to become yard shoes when they've aged out. So once the mileage is up, they begin a new life as mowing/edging/weeding shoes.

This is what's become of my old Brooks Adrenaline 12 shoes, the ones I got while I worked at The Athlete's Foot in Tuscaloosa, when the Brooks types had a monthly contest. Sell X pairs of their shoes and they'll hook you up. It was easy work-- those shoes sold themselves.

So my first run in these guys was in November, 2011.

My log shows I ran 602 miles in these. They didn't always have insoles.

Their last run was back in February of this year, when I hit the treadmill for 8x800 at 7:30 pace. It got to where I'd run longer distances on a forgiving surface, and only shorter outdoor distances every other week.

Now I know 500 miles is the generally accepted number when you start thinking about a new pair, but stretching things out is easier when you've got several pairs to rotate though. Cost is important to factor in, and I've been fortunate that I've not paid a lot of money for shoes in the last few years.

My favorite memory of these shoes is my first marathon-- the 2012 Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham. They carried me to a 4:12:35 finish.

They're great shoes and they did right by me.