Brooks Green Silence

Sigh. Again. Fail. After the fail with the Kinvaras, I tried the other pair I thought I liked - the Brooks Green Silence. They look good:

Pros:

• They look good, and match one of my favorite running outfits.

Cons:

• They didn't seem to ventilate my feet. THEY WERE HOT.
• Toe box not quite wide enough, although I didn't feel they were as tight as the Kinvaras. I did have to stop a few times to loosen laces. This ended up being a problem because of the weird way the shoe is form with the outside of the shoe becoming the tongue (you'd just have to look at them to understand what I mean).
• The shoes feel FLAT. The first few strides I felt like I had boards on my feet.
• Felt HEAVY.

Starting. Over.

You know, for someone who thought they didn't have finicky feet, I'm certainly struggling finding shoes that don't suck.

Answering some comments from the last shoe review:

• I wear body glide on my feet and toes only when I race. I'm sorta of the opinion that if I can't even run in them for 4-5 miles without body glide they aren't the shoes for me.
• I don't think I can wear Men's sizes, I have teeny feet. I wear 6-6.5 in regular shoes but bump up to a 7 for running. Bummer. :(

Newton Lady Isaac vs. Saucony Kinvara 2s

Sigh. Fail. I was really excited to try the new shoes, so I headed off to the gym - looking great and optimistic that I had found shoes that could work. Sadly, my outfit would pretty much be the only good part of the experience.

Newton Lady Isaacs

Pros:

• Bright colors
• Wide toe box
• Overall comfortable

Cons:

• Life of the shoe... Newtons in general do NOT seem to last long. I am on my 7th pair (if I'm counting correctly) in the last year. At $140-$175 a pair of shoes, that is RIDICULOUS.
• Nothing I can specifically put my finger on, I just seem to have overall tired and achy legs. Shoes? Maybe.

Saucony Kinvara 2s

Pros:

• Pretty!!!
• Comfortable and LIGHT feeling. First mile I felt like I was wearing nothing at all!
• Basically half the cost of what I have been spending on shoes

Cons:

• Toe box too narrow. My left pinky toe starting feeling "rubbed" like a blister was forming. I only ran 4 miles in them.
• Too tight/form fitting. After about 2 miles my feet started to feel numb. I stopped, loosened the laces on both feet. Felt "better" for a few miles but then the numbness came back. Couldn't loosen the laces further or my heels would slip too much.
• After running, I did a "speed walk" for a half hour with incline. Left pinky toe still felt "aggravated."
• After leaving the gym, wore the shoes while running errands. Left toe still not comfortable.

Even though the shoes didn't work out, I still rewarded myself with a HUGE salad. Yum.

Today I'm headed back to buy the other pair of shoes that was in the running with the Kinvaras. Review to follow.

TGIF!!!

So I've been struggling with my Newtons ever since the ones I loved were discontinued. I'd switched to the other shoes Newton makes and nothing seems to feel quite right. So... I exchanged the last pair of Lady Isaacs and I'm happy to be trying the Saucony Kinvara 2's! Aren't they BEAUTIFUL??? I haven't done the treadmill testing in years. Turns out I've been wearing a neutral shoe but I have the highest arches in the world. Throw in a pair of insoles and I'm pretty psyched to try these! (Not to mention they are about HALF the cost of what I'd been spending on Newtons. And at 6-7 pairs in the last year??)

Look what was in my mailbox today!!! Thanks Silly Girl!!!

And......

Remember last week when I was talking about finding my passion?? I've decided what I want to do, and this week I filled out my application to take my starter course in... CRIMINAL JUSTICE at my local community college (where I got my A.A. over a decade ago). As you can see by the above, I just ADORE shopping for school supplies and I am PSYCHED that I will be going back in the fall. I was one of those people that went to college just because I liked it. I have a fairly useless BA in English (with a minor in History), so I don't need to take any general education course, just focused courses in my area of interest.