Street Shoes vs. Running Shoes

NOTE: these are my legs, feet, and Asics 2140s. And gray is my favorite color.

For work I have 4 pairs of shoes: black oxfords; black slip-ons; brown slip-ons; and tan Docksiders.

My wife has--no kidding--probably 30 pairs (that's OK, I understand the need to color-coordinate and accessorize).

My running shoe inventory consists of some 6 pairs at the moment, and that’s because I just recycled 3 pairs at my local running store (to Africa or Latin America, I'm unsure, but I'm just happy they can be used).

On the TRAIL side I have 3 gradations: for the really rocky, rooty, terrible footing trails I use Montrail Vitesse, bought about 10 years ago, but that I only use a couple times a year. Next down I use a pair of Vasque (model 7624?), which for gnarly trails will replace the Montrails when I finally get the will to toss them. Then for the dirt road or jeep trail type of trail I use my new Asics 2140 Trail. These are perfect for and what I wore at the Umstead 100 Miler..also would be great for the JFK 50-miler (in MD) type of course, which is perhaps 25% single track trail, 50% dirt road (the C&O Canal towpath), and 25% paved roads.

For ROAD use I also have 3 pairs: an old pair of Adidas Response Trail that I have screwed hex head screws into for traction, for use only on icy roads. Again, these see use maybe a couple times a year under rare conditions. My everyday shoes are Asics 2140 road shoes and another older pair of Asics that I can’t make out the model of.

My feet are very normal so over the years I have purchased shoes based mostly on sale price and color, irrespective of brand. I will say that of late I am leaning more towards Asics. I have never had a pair of Asics that ever gave me a bit of problems. Right out of the box they run easily and well.

I try to rotate my shoes so that I don’t wear any one pair more than twice in row. I figure that if there is any biomechanical problem caused by the shoes, I don’t want to have repetition exacerbate the problem.