Happy Birthday D2 and I hope that your day was wonderful.

Today I did something that I have not done in a long time, ran in two different new shoes on the same day.

This morning I ran in the Karhu Ikoni Ortix that Sam over at Road, Trail, Run generously sent me after we talked about them last week. The Karhu’s are a pair of shoes that I tried on down at Fleet Feet in Portland a few weeks ago and are a pair of running shoes that I have wanted to run in since they came out last summer.

You can read his review of them here.

I wanted them for a specific purpose – be my mileage eaters. I tend to run too fast in my Epic Reacts and I want a comfortable/cushioned trainer that I purposely know are not going to be for faster running.

The comfortable part was checked off on the first slip in, although this morning I cinched the upper too tightly and didn’t stop to loosen things up, which ended up bothering my metatarsals a bit towards the end of the five miles.

I ran around the Middle Road for the first time this year and it gives me a fairly good idea of how a pair of running shoes will do for me since there are plenty of uphill and downhill sections along with tar, sandy road shoulders and dirt/mud road down-back.

The Ikoni did really good on everything during the run, but I probably going to change out the laces to some elastic laces and ensure that the bottom three lace holes are left loose to avoid squeezing the metatarsals.

Some of the reviews kind of warned about there might be a little transition necessary to avoid calf tightness, due to the rocker design, but luckily I didn’t have any issues and feel fine tonight.

I was very happy with how they felt for an easy five miler.

This Afternoon

After raking and doing some other yard work, including watching the end of the Celtics game, I got the bright idea of getting out my other new pair of running shoes to see how they felt.

The Nike Zoom Fly FlyKnit v1s

I have been looking at them since they came out, but the price has stayed out of the range of what I want to pay for them and every time I see them at the Nike Outlets, they haven’t had my size.

Luckily I managed to find a pair and they arrived yesterday and I have been wanting to try them out but wasn’t sure when I would get the chance before Tuesday’s speedwork session. So even though I had run once today, I decided to go ahead and do a couple more this afternoon.

No, I was not looking to break any speed records, it was more to get a feel for how the shoes would do with my stride and if I would like running in them.

Even though they are not the model with React Foam or the Carbon plate, I still felt as though I was running efficiently and comfortably in the Zoom Fly. I kind of thought that I would go easy for a mile and shut it down. However, after the first mile, I decided to do a few strides to see how they felt at speed.

No problems.

The first mile in them was sub 8:00 without trying, which is not what usually happens with a new pair of shoes. Each shoe has its own sweet spot, but I seemed to find the Zoom Fly sweet spot on about the second or third step and just went with it.

I also set a new course record for my two telephone pole stride course and then just jogging around the circle somehow it ended up being the fastest time. So needless to say I was pretty impressed, but the biggest thing that impressed me more than anything was how comfortable they felt for a first run.

No need to adjust anything. I just put them on, tied them and went running. I will see how they are going forward, but for the first run, they did just fine.

A nice couple of runs and while the Zoom Flys impressed me much more than I expected them to. While I did have some issues with the Ikoni, it was more something that was self-inflicted than anything wrong with the shoes. I cinched down too much on the laces and it came back and bothered the mets a bit more than I expected.

I have a feeling that both pair of shoes will be a welcome addition to my running shoe rotation over the next few months.

Only time will tell.