I love my Hoka’s! I really, really do!!! But all good things must come to an end, or at least that is what I have been told.
I purchased two pair of Hoka Stinson Trail for my Trail Ultra that I was scheduled to run on March 1, 2014. That turned out to be a fail. I ended up with a stress fracture in January and that resulted in crutches for most of January and February. Rats. That meant that those lovely new shoes stared at me from their boxes for the better part of two months.
As soon as I got the thumbs up from my Orthopedic Dr. I grabbed those shoes and put them to good use. The miles began to add up and the “goodies” in those shoes began to wear away. It was sad. I loved those shoes. Better yet, my feet and knees loved those shoes. They made my feet very, very happy.
Last Monday, I wore one of those pair of shoes for an 8 miler. Not very far, really, but the rest of the day, my left foot was very, very unhappy. That particular pair of shoes had been gradually giving my left foot a bit of grief. I knew that it was time to retire them. They had around 400 miles on them.
Seeing as I knew that I was going to have to retire those shoes soon, I had been keeping my eye open for sales on my beloved shoes. They do not come cheap. I could not find a sale. I asked around on my online running communities and nobody knew of any sales either because there were not any. Rats.
Finally, Monday, I bit the bullet and ordered two new pair. $289.00. Ouch. That was the least expensive place I could find them. They arrived last Thursday.
Last Thursday was a long run day. There was NO WAY I would wear a brand new pair of shoes for a 22 miler. Nope. So they sat.
Friday was a rest day. Saturday was running group. A shorter run but it was supposed to rain and I did not want to wear them for the first time in the rain. Silly, but that is the facts. Sunday was a 10 miler and that was too far to wear new shoes.
Today! I was only scheduled to run 8 miles. Today I decided to wear my new shoes. How much fun!!! It felt like my feet had springs! Light as a feather! Until mile 6. Then, I knew that 8 miles was too far to wear the new shoes. Rats. So, I called MFH (My Favorite Husband) and he met me (he is such a good guy!!!) and brought me home. It was either that or mess something up.
Today’s run was really a very nice run. New springy kicks! Nice weather! Not as far as I would have liked to go but that is okay. Their time will come 🙂