Old Gear vs. New Gear
Or, your shoes vs. the shoes you told them not to worry about.
It’s a moment I savour like the last day of school. The email arrives. It’s Strava telling me to buy a new pair of running shoes.
Five-hundred miles already.
With a grave nod to my wife, I pull up the Inov8 website and scroll through the latest range of footwear.
From the doorway, my pair of Mudclaw 300s look at me hopefully. Their signature smell is hard to ignore. The uppers are cracked and the lugs, once aggressive and shiny black, are now blunted and dusty.
They never quite dry out, and the damp odour stays in the car for days.
But when I slip my feet inside them, I know I am ready to go.
In the months I have owned them, they have moulded perfectly to my oddly shaped feet.
The distinct wear on the sole is a result of my signature gait, which is itself a result of my weight, posture and history of injuries.
These old shoes have travelled with me up mountains and down trails, over peat bogs and through streams. And they never complained once, which is more than can be said for me.
Of course, there’s nothing like the smell of a box-fresh pair of running shoes either..
They are pliable, supple and springy. The soles are light and pristine. The odour is that of fresh rubber and glue, and the laces are vibrant and clean.
It’s not just the shoes, it’s the process of buying the shoes that I find exciting. I select running shoes based on technology and design features that I barely understand, let alone need.
But as I weigh up the benefits of graphene against vulcanised rubber, I feel like Eliud Kipchoge selecting the equipment which is going to propel me, literally, towards a new personal best.
What kind of running am I going to do? Track? Road? Trail? Fell? What cushioning do I need? Zero-drop? What’s my budget?
The variables are seemingly never-ending.
Behind all this research is the unspoken hope, and belief, that a new pair of running shoes is going to make all the difference to my running. Once I have them, my 5K time will drop. Once I finally get this pair of shoes, my injuries will disappear and I will be transported to the next level.
And of course, shoe company marketing plays right into my fantasies.
Because once I have these shoes I will feel the freedom to explore the outdoors, unrestrained by the stresses and worries of modern life. I’ll finally be like the community of sponsored athletes I see on Instagram. Maybe I’ll even quit my job to complete running challenges in my new running shoes. I’ll move my family into a campervan and we’ll travel the world together.
“Oh really”, says Eliud, from the page of my running magazine. “And, did your old shoes do all that for you too?”
No, you’re right. These smelly old shoes will go another few hundred miles with me.
