I thought instead of a picture of my fancy new shoes I’d show a picture of the ones I’m retiring. After only 244 miles Bert and Ernie 2 are having to retire due to an irreparable injury. They are mere youngsters as I only got them in January but they have had to cope with all sorts of weather conditions (they were muddied at Banbury PR in early Feb and never recovered!) as well as slightly wide feet (not wide enough for the wider shoes though) and it has taken it out of them.
They have given me my 5k and 10k PBs, taken me to 10 miles and they survived long enough to conquer the Two Castles. But all good things come to an end and I am exchanging my Launch 4s for a pair of cushioned Ghost 11s (named by Katnap ‘Randall & Hopkirk’) to protect my grumbling knees. To help the Ghosts last longer, I will invest in another pair of Launch’s soonish as I like their speed for the ‘shorter’ runs but not the 4’s as that bit by the toes went on my original pair and the later models don’t have it. It must be getting serious if I’m looking at having two pairs 😱
Farewell my faithful runners 😢
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TailChaser
Graduate10
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I was going to suggest they’d make good gardening shoes. My dad used to retire his faithful slippers first into the garage for pottering about in his dark room or with his motorbike, and then the next pair would go to the garage and the first pair would be relegated for trotting up the garden to get a handful of carrots or brussel sprouts.
That’s another good idea, thanks IP. The laces in my new shoes are a bit dull so I could swap. I could also tie them into my Two Castles medal...? Fab! You’ve fired up my imagination 😀😍xx
well they have certainly been on a journey with you. happy retirement shoes! Love Floss's idea of using them for plants best get some runner bean seeds 😀 wishing you many happy runs in the new ones
Thanks Alison, our shoes hold loads of memories and it makes it too difficult to part with them 😄
I had a similar muddy parkrun experience- I did a parkrun in January wearing the Reeboks I had just had for Christmas - there was so much liquid mud around the course it poured in through the “breathable” uppers of my shoes, soaked through my socks and gave me muddy feet. Cleaning my shoes afterwards was really difficult. I bought a pair of goretex lined trail shoes the next week and have been fearless of mud since! 😁
Good idea Dozy, what a nightmare for your new shoes, socks and feet!!! It wasn’t so bad at Banbury but the shoes were a very pale blue which didn’t help.
Nothing gets on with Ernie and my shoes don’t deserve that sort of ending (nb: for those wondering, our tortoise is called Ernie and he’s a very grumpy old man)
Brooks should last longer though. I've got them (walks) and Asics (running), gait analysis guys told me they would go for approx 1200km and they did. My feet don't look like normal human feet, hence they came up with some shoes that worked well with/around them. I run in all weather conditions and simply believe that for the money they charge, the product should respond. Like German cars, basically. Those things (shoes and cars) are built for distance & battering.
I know mrrun, I’m not overly impressed with how long they lasted. I did spend the first few months running awkwardly due to foot problems so I probably put too much pressure on the join that has loosened. I’m also guessing this is a weak spot that they’ve altered in subsequent versions (the Launch 5s & 6s don’t have it).
Can’t imagine I’d ever get 1200km out of any shoes though, that sounds an awful lot, I was just hoping to get to 500km which I’ve heard is pretty average. You must have to put a lot research into your shoe shopping, so I’m pretty lucky as I’m just a pretty standard size and shaped neutral.
I base 1200km on, roughly, one year of running. My current pair of Asics passed that mark three months ago and still look and feel great, so good on them. What sold me that particular shoe shop was a good old google search/review. They specialise in ski and running shoes and employ people who are very good at both.
Those shoes certainly look like they’ve seen life TailChaser, and what a journey you’ve had in them. They will love being gardening shoe I am sure . 👟🦋🥀🌹🌼🌸🌻🌺
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best get some runner bean seeds 😀 wishing you many happy runs in the new ones 
What sold me that particular shoe shop was a good old google search/review. They specialise in ski and running shoes and employ people who are very good at both. 
Shoe porn part 2:
Shoe porn 📢 
Shoe porn
