Shoes, and 2014

I paid my first visit to the TC Running Co. - both stores, in fact - with the intent on replacing my shoes for the 2014 season. I can run again in the early morning hour and I no longer spend three-plus hours per day in a car. So new shoes were in order.

I planned on getting the New Balance 110's, 1010's (now version 2's) and something similar to the 110's but stylized for road. The basic idea was to have a quiver of kicks for all condition I run in: road flats for the day-to-day runs; 110's for trail runs and races 50 mile or less; and the 1010's for Sawtooth and other 100 milers. The reason for the plan, you will see, is in my written-but-not-yet-finished report from Sawtooth 2014. I ran in the 110's - which were GREAT up until the Sonju roots - and DNF'd by timing out at mile 95 (Oberg Peak) when I arrived there at 7:45 PM.

But New Balance is re-tooling the 110's - damn them! - to provide for more cushioning and they are generally out of stock at most place. I tried the MT10v2's (the current version of the MT10's I went through two pairs with) and the MR10's and tuck with the MT's - they fit sock-like, just as advertised. TCRC also didn't have the MR's in my size. Although I needed an 8 in NB trail shoes, I needed a 7.5 in the MR's.

I can to the conclusion to try on the 1010's after looking for a beefier shoe that while minimal, offers more protection than the 110's. I was looking at NB's Leadville model, but decided against it because of the built-in motion control (there is a medial post built in - see iRunFar's video review of it). That lead me to the 1010's. I initially tried them on with my traditional running socks - Fox River X-static liners - but they were too large. Again, not having 7.5's in stock, I grabbed a thicker sock from their bin to try them on. Viola! They fit smoothly and the issues I was having re: size were solved. I left there with two pairs of shoes, a three-pack of the sock I tried the 1010's on with, and two bumper sticker - 50K and 50 Miles. But why no 100 mile stickers? TCRC, get some!

1010v2's on the left, with wool FitSox and MT10v2's on right.