I will be honest, I missed writing reviews about my running shoes over the past few years. Now that I have moved over to this blog, and will be focusing more on what I enjoy writing about, I plan to write about the running shoes I actually run in. 

However, writing running shoe reviews or other reviews is not and will not be the focus of my blogging. I am not attempting to get back into the social media marketing gig, I left that role behind for a lot of reasons back in 2014. Gear or shoe reviews are only one aspect of writing about running, and I am going to stick with being a non-elite reviewer and have fun with the reviews that I do. 

Besides I am a running shoe geek and have been for many years. Doing a running shoe review is only me sharing my opinion about the shoes that I decide to get and yes, run in.

Most of the time I will be doing initial thoughts reviews, then again around 50 miles (ca. 80 km), 200 miles (ca. 322 km), and an end of use review on trainers or trail shoes. For racing/go faster shoes, an initial thoughts review, again around 25 miles (ca. 40 km), 100 miles (ca. 161 km), and end of use. Why the different standards, I don’t run fast that often, which means getting my “go faster” shoes up to the trainer mileages would take forever. 😎

What kind of running shoes will I be writing about?

Notice that I said, “my running shoes” at the start. 

Like the majority of runners, I pay for most of my running shoes or get them as gifts. This means, they are my shoes and my reviews will be my thoughts about my shoes. 

While I love the newest and greatest running shoes as much or more than most runners, they are not the shoes that I typically run in. They are too expensive for me to experiment with since I do not have ready access to a run specialty shop. One where I can try those models on to have a better idea of whether they will fit or work for me and my hard to fit Hobbit feet. 

Due to those true-to-size 8.0 U.S. Hobbit feet, with a Tailor’s Bunionette on the right foot, finding running shoes that fit well can be an adventure and requires too many experiments that fail. Paying $150 or more for a pair of running shoes that I end up wearing 4-5 times doesn’t work for my budget. So most of the time I wait until those newest and greatest running shoes, become yesterday’s news, go on sale, and become the “close-out” shoe. 

You know, that great shoe that the reviewers, and everyone else raved about, and used to love so much.

Drum roll, please…

• Last year.

Just because brands have newer models to sell and market, doesn’t mean the previous models or last year’s versions of running shoes, are irrelevant to runners?

Since I go through so many experiments, don’t live near any run specialty shops that usually have my size and with the ongoing pandemic, I typically get my running shoes as part of online sales, store close-outs (well, I will again when the pandemic is less of a factor), or gasp – gently used ones at price points I prefer on eBay. Plus, there are people in my life who give me running shoes as gifts and I do appreciate their generosity. 

I will wait to get a particular pair of running shoes until later, when the prices drop. While waiting and doing my online searches for a particular pair of running shoes, I often see fantastic prices online for a pair of highly regarded shoes by RunBloggers I know and trust. When I do, somehow they tend to magically end up appearing in the house a few days later. Yes, TheWife now just shakes her head and has pretty much given up on the old stink eye that I used to get when a suspicious looking box arrived.

In other words, I have zero brand loyalty, probably have run in most of the brands out there and many of their styles over the last 10 years. Plus in a certain online Facebook group I belong to, the members are more than willing to help to fuel the fire for me to continue getting more running shoes than I really need. 

However, l do have certain preferences and dislikes in my running shoe brands or styles which will become evident as I get back to reviewing running shoes. Despite all of that, I don’t run in minimalist or zero drop running shoes, my experiences with either type have been overwhelmingly negative, and I don’t use those running shoe styles anymore.

I believe my running shoe reviews will appeal to those runners who are more interested in how last year’s models held up and worked. After the marketing hype dies down and the “A” list RunBloggers or other trendsetters move on to the next new thing.

Furthermore, since I retired, I am starting to look at my running shoe obsession a little differently, and I’m working to cut back significantly the number of running shoes that magically appear. So, the number of running shoe reviews that I actually end up doing after the initial onslaught won’t be that many.

Realistically, most of the shoes that end up on these old feet will be personal purchases or gifts, which makes things a lot easier for me in many ways. I can give my honest opinion about a pair of running shoes without worrying about what a brand or other marketing department thinks about my review.

If for some reason a brand or retailer does give me a pair to review, of course, I will make full disclosure about how I got the shoes and the reviews will be done honestly and to my standards, not theirs. I am not seeing that happening anytime soon, and am not going to worry about it too much either.

Now to get caught up on a few reviews of shoes that are currently in my rotation that have over 25 or 50 miles on them or the ones that have left that didn’t work out for me recently.

• Where/when do you get most of your running shoes?
• Do you go back into various blog’s archives to research older running shoes before you buy them?