It's gotta be the shoes!

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Here is my scientific breakdown:

Problem: Since I ran in the Half Marathon (and realistically probably a little before then) my legs have been hurting a lot more when I run beyond a certain distance.

1. The pain is never exactly the same in every run, it can vary between each knee, or on bad days both.

2. Shortening up the runs and rebuilding my strength has not had any effect.

3. Shortening up my stride, stretching before the run, dynamic stretching, none of those made any difference.

4. Changing where I run to a trail run helped a little, but I was still hurting at the end of the run and the rest of the day.

5. I can walk long distances with no problem, even a very strenuous mostly uphill and then downhill hike like the Incline and Barr trail did not cause me the same pains.

Causes, or why it's the shoes: I have been alternating between 2 pairs of shoes I bought back in February/January time frame. I have been diligently keeping mileage numbers the entire time I used those shoes.

1. Each of the pairs of shoes is now over 260 miles roughly (not counting walking miles from daily wear)

2. According the conventional wisdom you should be able to get from 300 to 500 miles out of a pair of shoes.

3. In a Facebook runner group I put up a post for thoughts on that conventional wisdom and while it does appear to be consistently true that is really only the case if you own a pair of more expensive shoes. (the ones I use were each around 50$)

4. The majority (say 80-90%) of my running has been on concrete or asphalt, which does put more strain on my legs and wear and tear on the shoes.

5. It really doesn't make sense that running in the half marathon should have damaged something, and if it did the damage would have affected me when I walked or even hiked at least, and that wasn't the case.

Given all of that I am certain that the cause of my problem lies with my shoes. And it is time to get a new pair(s). Now I have tried on some of the minimal shoes, and while they do feel real nice my biggest concern is point 4 above, will I shred those minimal shoes running where I run? So I think the smart thing will be to get some more solid shoes.