New running shoes - at some point

When I ran my knees into oblivion (or at least thought I had done so) I wondered if I would need to buy new running shoes. My road shoes are quite old, and not very bouncy. It might have had something to do with it. The physiotherapist said the problem was somewhere else entirely, so I put the thought of new shoes out of my head. But then there was this promotional event by Hoka, where we could borrow a pair and take it on our Thursday run. These were trail shoes; I don't wear out trail shoes very fast. My Sauconies doing just fine. But these were REALLY comfortable. And I started to think of a pair for on the road. And the next time I was in the shop where we had borrowed our Hoka’s I had a look, but they only had trail shoes. Maybe that's what you get in Llanberis.

Susan had noticed a nice pair of Hoka’s one of the members of the Mountain rescue team that came to Tim’s aid. She had bought a pair straight from the manufacturer’s website. She recommended that; if there's anything you don't like about them, you can just send them back without problems. And she liked her pair a lot. And I fell for the temptation. I ordered a pair of Rincon 4s, size 5. I’ve always had running shoes size 5. The Hoka trail shoes I had borrowed had also been 5s. 

You see it coming. They arrived, and I wanted to try them out, on a run that didn’t start at the front door. I drove to the start, but I wasn’t even out of the village when I concluded the shoes were too tight. They shouldn’t already be uncomfortable before you’ve even set off! Maybe afterwards, when your feet have swollen with the effort, but not beforehand. I decided to turn back and change into my good old Asicses. And I ran on these. 

The run was also the first one with my new running vest. But more about that in a separate post!

The new kit

The kit in situ

When I got home from that run I organised the exchange of the shoes. I went for size 5.5 instead. I would think that should be big enough! And I decided to go for a different colour as well. The ones I had initially chosen were not quite to my liking. I went for black instead. And the next working day I brought the Hoka’s back to a drop-off point. The pick-up went ok. But then I got an email that indicated Hoka considered that a return, not an exchange. I had to go back to the site. 

I decided to scrutinise the sizing guidance. Maybe what I needed was not a size bigger, but the wide model. Some measuring suggested that. So I took a punt and went for that. It required a more expensive model as the Rincons weren’t available in wide. I chose the Bondi 8. 

Now I have to wait for them to arrive. Hopefully they will make it to the trial run stage this time! Although the trial could be an actual race…