Week 7 of 19 - Killed first pair of shoes

My marvelous pair of Salomon Comp 3's died this week. I had around 300 miles of running on them. The outside of them looks fine; the soles show some wear, and the fabric shoes almost none. There is just a crease on the rubber that brackets the balls of my feet. But structurally, they are shot. And so, they will be retired. I could tell because my shins started to hurt. When that happens, the support is gone.

I have needed to replace them for about three or four days now. The thing is, Salomon was between seasons for a few weeks. All of the '07 models were sold out or clearenced everywhere, and I didn't pickup three or four pairs like I should have. Last night, I went to REI and looked at one of their trail runners, the XA Pro 3D Comp. It is the same shoe that I hiked the SHT with, except that it does not have a Gore-Tex lining. After I had the folks down in Bloomington set aside a pair for me, the 08 models of the Comp 3's went up for sale online. I promptly bought a pair, and they will be shipped to my closest REI and will arrive next week. Thus, I'm thinking that I will keep two pairs of shoes that I can run at all times. When the first pair dies, I'll get another pair.

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Running has been going well. I'm following the "A" program in Jack Daniels' book and am putting on a lot of miles. I'm running almost everyday, and most days with ease. I've hit section two of the season plan, which is the early quality phase. In this phase, I am getting some speed work in, all for preparation of phase III, which is where the most difficult workouts come.