I just realized that I have more running shoes than I do regular shoes! I recently bought my 4th pair of the same kind of running shoes (I have 2 others that I don’t wear anymore) and when I lined them up together I thought it was interesting to see the various states of wear and tear on them. From the oldest to the newest the differences, especially on the soles, really shows the amount of running I’ve done in them.

For the last 2-ish years I’ve been buying exactly the same make and model. That’s because these are the only shoes I have tried that tick all the boxes for me. These are the Brooks Glycerin 12 and here’s what I’ve done to them:

The retired pair are just that, retired. I don’t wear them anymore at all. The Semi-Retired pair I still wear for walking around. The In Use pair are the ones I currently run in and the Breaking In pair I have only worn on one 3 mile run.

The beauty of buying the same make and model means that they really need very little breaking in. I know when the time comes to move into them, they’ll be just fine. Although, with the mileage I’ve been running lately, that might come sooner than I think!

What’s pretty cool about these shoes is what’s underneath…

It’s pretty obvious which shoes I’ve worn the most huh? The second pair, the semi-retired ones, are the shoes I wore for my first marathon. They have over 450 miles (of just running, not counting walking) on them. I’m a bit nostalgic about them and a little reluctant to retire them completely. With only 200 miles on my current In Use pair, I still have a ways to go before I need to move on to the next pair. That’s something of a relief!

I’m sure an expert will be able to tell me all about my stride, strike and gait by looking at these huh? Anyone want to give it a go in the comments below? 😀

Anyway, I’m dreading the day when the Glycerin 12’s are out of stock and discontinued. Before I found these I tried a couple of different models from Brooks. None of them fit as well as these. And believe me, I tried! Ash from Run Logic will tell you! Luckily, Ash is the kind of guy who won’t rest until his customers are in the right shoes, so after some trial and error we finally found the perfect fit. These are the only shoes that never gave me a blister or a hot spot!

My particular size is hard to come by, apparently. Just my luck huh? I only hope that when the time comes to change models, I’ll find one just as good as these.

Bonus shots…my cats love my shoes too!