Better?

Ever notice how sometimes "improved" doesn't necessarily better? And then there are the times that "improved" DEFINITELY doesn't mean better!

Right now I have a modified version of Billy Joel song in my head.... "Don't go changing, to try and "fix" things... I like my shoes they way they were..."

I've been running in Mizunos for several years now. (Don't ask me exactly how many because I can't remember - call it getting older or just the fact that I'm blonde... either will work.) I've been incredibly happy with my Mizunos. In fact when I had an issue with them I wrote to them and they happily exchanged my shoes for me! Gotta love great customer service. (Especially since it seems to be a forgotten art for many businesses!)

Well about 2 weeks ago I realized that my shoes were definitely on their way out. No imminently mind you but it was time to start breaking in a new pair of running shoes. So I pulled out the "new" pair of Mizunos I bought for just this purpose. New is in quotes because I bought them about a year ago because I wanted the same shoes I was running in already and I found these on a really good deal. The catch is they are 1 rev newer than the ones I was running in. One would think this would be no big deal right? WRONG!

So they were bothering me a bit as I would run a few miles here and there but I was really hoping it was just a break-in period. Well last week I went for a whopping 4 mile run and had to stop because my arches of my feet were absolutely killing me. Clearly these "newer" shoes were not going to cut it. It was so bad in fact that my feet woke me up in the middle of the night that night with pain :( Definitely not good.

I understand companies wanting to actually improve things but change just for the sake of change when it causes things to be NOT better drives me crazy. Maybe I am the only one who has issues with the newer version of the shoe... but somehow I doubt that. Not that there is anything wrong with Mizunos... just this version does not at all work for me :(

So here I am a handful of days later and my feet are still a bit achy and I have a half marathon to run on Saturday (which obviously I will be doing in my "old" shoes.) After that I guess I will be on the hunt for some new shoes which is a process almost as painful as shopping for jeans or a swimsuit!!!

"Don't go changing.... to try to "fix" things... I like my shoes they way there were...."