Runner’s world published this staggering number last week that runners who rotate shoes (and I am the queen of the rotation because of my job),. reduce their chance of injury by 39% That’s incredible!

For someone who doesn’t work in running retail, there may be a few factors keeping you from buying new shoes, or buying more to rotate (the best way to get some bang for your buck).

• “My shoes aren’t even worn out!” I hear this all the time.  And then you ask the customer when they last replaced the shoe.  They’ll swear it was three months ago.  But when you look back in the records, it’s over a year ago.  The official number is this.  Shoes get about 350 miles on them.  Minimalist shoes get even less, about 250.  Shoes naturally start to break down after about a year, so even if the shoe was just sitting in your closet, the shoe has lost some juice.
• “I only wear my shoes to go to the store”.  This logic blows my mind.  If you wear your shoes every day for a year and a half to do your errands, your shopping, your trips to the post office, and your trips to the Y, what do you think is happening to them?  You don’t have to be running marathons to wear your shoes out.
• “Shoes cost too much.”  A good shoe is gonna start at about $110.  And depending on the amount of cushioning, they can climb to $175.  Yes, it’s an investment, but you’re protecting your body from the earth.  Why would you want to pay $60?
• “I don’t have time to get shoes.”  Take the time to get fitted one good pair.  If you like it, stick with that shoe for a while, at least until the update.  That should give you 9 months to a year of not having to try on shoes and wait on a fitting.

And even though I’m the person who knows this stuff, it occurred to me at some point a few weeks ago that Austin’s shoes might have been worn out.  He’d been complaining that his IT band was hurting when we ran, so I told him to jump on my foam roller.  And thenI looked down at his feet and realized he was wearing the same Brooks Glycerins I’d gotten him at some point last summer.  We’d been either running or in the gym an average of 5-6 days a week since then, and if that wasn’t enough evidence, the, *ahem* fragrance from the shoes should have given it away.  The shoes had aged out right under my nose (hee hee).

So for about three weekends I badgered him to come down to the store.  He was too busy.  He was eating a sandwich.  He was asleep on the couch.  He couldn’t make it because someone on his fantasy football team was benched.  All sorts of excuses to not take off his shoes.  Finally, finally, on a rainy day last weekend, I cornered him in my kitchen.

“Let’s go right now.  What are you doing right now.”

He agreed, only after he ate a sandwich.  And off to the store we went.  After trying a few things on (the Glycerin had updated and felt a little funny to him), he settled on the Saucony Ride 6, and on a test run later, he reported zero IT band pain.  Win.