Light shoes/Newtons/expense

William Jenks

In another thread there has been a lot of discussion about minimalist/light shoes.

I am a Newton runner, but strongly caution anyone against converting to them during the middle of a training season.  The time to do that is after your season has ended and you don't care about quality or volume for a little while.

Regardless, one of the concerns about them is the cost ($175 list).  I just ordered a new pair today.  The ones whose pictures are shown below were my shoes from about Jan 2010 until now, serving me through a Boston marathon and two HIMs, plus all my other little training and races (like the NOS).

If you run in them as intended, they can last FOREVER compared to a shoe whose construction is based on foam support.  I got almost 18 months out of these.  I stopped tracking my miles in them after a point, since I no longer worry about replacing them every 300 miles or whatever like I used to with conventional shoes.  This makes the actual price of use of the shoe pretty good.  I normally think of running shoes costing about $2/hour.  ($100 = 50 hours = 350-400 miles).  These cost me way less than that.

Just an FYI post.  Below are a few pictures of the shoe that is in worse condition of the two.

 

William

kurshing

I have found the same holds true with my Newtons as well. I actually own 3 pair and some K-Swiss, and I rotate them each week, trying to only run in each once per week. I have found that rotating them like this REALLY stretches that $175 investment out (though I DO have $175x3).