Tendonitis

Spending $100 for running shoes absurd. I greatly appreciate a well-designed, aesthetically-pleasing, and comfortable shoe for training, but considering that there is likely no running shoe on the market that  costs more than $5 to make, it is absolutely infuriating that I must drop a benjamin for said shoe.

The kicker is this: since I've been buying good (expensive) trainers, I've had no injuries. Last year, I ran over 1,600 miles with not so much as a broken toenail. My mileage has actually increased this year, and I was happy to hit the Prairie Path and roads of West Chicago with a good ($90) pair of Asics Gel-Blur33: a lightweight, low drop, and comfortable trainer that attempted to bridge the divide between cushy and minimalist.

For the $90-100+ training shoe, one can expect about 300 miles (interestingly, as the price goes up, the longevity of the shoe goes down). For me, I hit mile 300 at around the six week mark. That is a new pair ($100) pair of trainers every quarter. This is preposterous.

So, last month I decided that I was going to bleed every last cent out of my Asics and wear them beyond the 300 mile mark. I did. Their swan song would be our vacation in Colorado, where I knew I would trash them on rocks, dirt, and tree stumps. I ran over 40 miles our week in Steamboat. My legs were very sore.

Initially, I thought the soreness was due primarily to logging heavy miles at altitude on exceptionally steep and rocky terrain (busting the lungs going up and the quads going down). On the way back to Chicago I grudging visited The Runner's Edge (one of my favorite running stores) in Cedar Falls, Iowa for a new set of skips. I paid $85 for a 6oz. pair of Saucony Kinvara minimalist trainers. I ran 16 miles over two days in these shoes and was completely shredded. Returning them, I bought a pair of cushy Nike's (which I will have to wear for the Nike Pace Team at Chicago Marathon, anyway).

Back home and back on the Prairie Path, I was in a world of hurt--my legs were dead weight, my knees sore, my calves tight, and my right achilles tendon absolutely screaming. Having never faced any running-related injury before, I panicked. Was I done? Would I ever run again? Ahhhhhhhhhh!

After the panic subsided, I accepted the fact that I likely have a case of tendonitis in my achilles. I abstained from running for one whole week (you can ask my wife how revolutionary this was) and pounded Ibuprofen and ice. This week, I gingerly returned with a easy three mile run, followed by a five mile run, followed by a four mile run yesterday. Today, I am supposed to go 8-10. I pray the achilles holds up without too much soreness.

The moral of the story: running shoes are expensive--deal with it; don't let your trainers overstay their welcome--it will hurt you; don't buy into the minimalist hype--it is simply another sorry justification for shoe manufacturers to commit highway robbery on cool-looking running product geeks (like me).

Happy running!