Shoes are like a box of Chocolates

Over the past five years I've tried a number of shoe brands.

Saucony: My feet shred the insides of these shoes. The material is not durable.

New Balance: Arch support? Why provide arch support? Who ever heard of arch support? And speaking of arch support,what is it anyway?

Asics: I have owned two pairs of Asics. I ran my first two halfs in Asics. Des Moines 08 and WDW 09. I also developed plantar fasciitis while using these shoes for long runs. I can't truly blame the shoe. The problem really lays in the fact that regardless of the shoe I need some additional arch support.

Mizuno: My first pair was an Alchemy 9. These I ran in using heat molded arch supports from RED WING. An absolute and proven combinition for me. Later on when discussing how my toes fell asleep during long runs my Doctor suggested I needed a wider toe box. It was at this time that my running shoe store placed me into my second pair of Saucony's. I used them twice on a tredmill and took them back. The interior of both shoes had ripped apart behind my heels. So I asked the saleman about going back to Mizuno and while they did not offer anything with a "wider toe box" we found that the Alchemy 10 in a 2E wide worked well for me. I've since retired two pairs of those shoes and they have held up great. After adding up my miles a few weeks ago realized I was way overdue for a new pair. There was only one problem. My running store informed me that Mizuno had retired the Alchemy 10. The new Alchemy 11 was a close replacement but they did not have it stocked in a 2E. Hence I ordered the shoes.

A few days ago my impatience got to me a little bit and I began looking over the Mizuno website. I ran through an online shoe fit guide and it suggested two different shoes. I went back to the running store and asked in my order had arrived and then I asked to try on these other options. Those were in stock but WOW even in a wide shoe they we tight!!!

So I just had to wait and hope that the 11 would fit right.

The next day I received a call and my shoes were in. I brought along a new pair of inserts I had molded to fit my old shoes and the fit was...

Perfect!

Yesterday was a balmy 25 degrees so I tried my new shoes out on the treadmill at the Y. Got in 5 miles and my feet felt good. Planning another trip to the Y today after my wife gets home.

This past weeks weigh in was a bit disapointing. I've finally hit a plateau. Looking back over and comparing the last few weeks I can see why. Last week my daily calorie intake creeped up due to holiday goodies which I mistakenly thought I was displacing with exercise. Too much sugar here and there I guess. One other eye opener is that my weekly calories have been in the 50% range since I started watching calories. I need to work on getting the carbs down and the proteins up. As I said, no weigh loss for the week is a downer,but it does not take anything away from what I've accomplished so far. Besides another weigh in is less than a week away.

And now back to happy news. My Magic Express packet has arrived!