And the answer is yes.

Well, I did it: yesterday I had to order a new pair of running shoes. I certainly had put some miles on my old ones; but I did not expect to wear through them so quickly, especially considering that I haven’t been able to run as much as I have wanted to.

Maybe I’m wrong about this; I have been running longer on some of my runs, and the stride is known to break down over the course of a long run. So at the end of a two-plus hour-long run, it is possible that a less-than-ideal running stride would cause excessive wear on the outer ball of my left foot. It’s interesting to note, however, that even though I pay careful attention to my stride on shorter runs, there still seems to be more and more wear at the end of each run.

Of course, I might have to expect to go through two pair of running shoes every year. If that’s the case, then I’d rather buy them both at once. I was so happy with the features of the SKORA running shoes that I’m wearing now that I decided to buy another pair of SKORA shoes, this time the “Base” model. Since their best features are built into all of their shoes, so I didn’t really see a need to spend an extra $30 on the high falutin’ shoes when the cheaper shoes would do just as well. Ask Billy Joel, he’ll tell you it’s still rock ‘n roll to him.

But I think the best way for me to look at this is like a toothbrush; they have to be replaced every so often, and a lot of people don’t replace them as often as they should. In that case, it’s better that I have a good pair of shoes with thinner outsoles, because I have more of an indication of when I should replace them, and thus my feet are healthier and stronger over the long-term.

What do you think? Do you run, and if you do, how often do you have to replace your shoes? Where are your wear patterns, and are they weird, or right where you expect them to be? Let us know in the comments.

Related articles

• A Guide to Choosing Running Shoes (everydayhealth.com)
• Testing SKORA running shoes (runnerunleashed.com)
• The Right Running Shoes at the Right Price (savemoney247.co.uk)
• Shoe Guilt (runningtalltails.wordpress.com)
• Gear Series: Running Shoes (mylifeisarace.wordpress.com)
• How I Transitioned into Zero Drop Running (evelinruns.wordpress.com)
• Why did I wear a hole through my left running shoe but not the right? (ask.metafilter.com)
• Breaking in Your New Running Shoes (running.answers.com)
• To get new shoes, or not: how do I know when to change them? (thegirlwhoraneverywhere.wordpress.com)
• How to Choose The Right Running Shoes (lifehack.org)