Pricier does NOT mean better...aka Stick with what works

So half marathon training is trudging on and has been quite interesting with the weather here lately. Today I was scheduled to do a long run and mother nature decided to dump some snow on us. I usually try to do my long runs outdoors and since I was trying to keep my weekend open, today was the day. Needless to say I ended up going to Kids America and using their track...and let me say that 7.6 miles on a track is not a barrel of fun. The first 4 miles were kind of tough, but after 4.5 miles I kind of found a groove. Surprisingly I was able to do my run with mostly negative splits, the last mile being my fastest so I'm pretty tickled with that.

Now those who know me know that I am a huge Mizuno fan. Ever since I got my first pair of Mizuno Wave Precision 13's this fall I have been in love with these shoes. Now I know this is a shock but I'm already through about half the life of these precious babys so I have been on the lookout for their replacement. Now I know...once you find something good you should stick with it...but I like to explore a little bit so I went for the gamut...I decided I would use my Amazon gift cards and some money I got at Christmas to buy myself the ultimate pair of Mizunos...The Wave Prophecy.  These were the most expensive pair of shoes I had ever bought myself...despite the fact I paid with it mostly with my gift cards I still felt guilty about it, but I just had to try them, especially since I read the reviews on Amazon and they got such glowing reviews. Well I just received them this week and today was my first test drive with them. And honestly all I can say is that I'm terribly disappointed. I wanted to like them. Ran a full mile in them, but they just made my shins and knees hurt and they were just so rigid and stiff...now before you go on a soapbox, I very well know that these are new shoes and they may need a bit of breaking in, but these were nothing like my precious pink beauties. Even my Precisions didn't need this kind of breaking in or feel this rigid and stiff. Needless to say these puppies are going back and I will most likely exchange them for another pair of my precious hot pink kicks. I could almost buy 2 pairs for the price of the others...so needless to say, just because a shoe has a bigger price tag doesn't mean that it's a better shoe. I had the same thing happen when I used to wear Asics. My most expensive pair of those feel apart in three months. So I think it's a definite lesson learned. Sometimes it's truly better to stick with what works and not go with the notion that bigger price tag means better product. Now I'm not saying these weren't made well or anything like that, these just are not comfortable and not the shoe for me.

So after my 7.6 mile run around a boring track, I think I'm going to give myself a little weekend break...may go for a small walk tomorrow with the hubby, but that's all. Let's just say that I can tell that I've begun ramping up my training and I think a little break would do me a little good :)

Have a great snowy weekend!!