Ditch Your Kicks

You and your shoes may need time apart. Generally, you need 400-600 miles to kill a decent pair of shoes. Maybe more if your lighter and at the lower end if you are heavier. Even without signs of wear, the cushion in your shoes is breaking down and losing spring day by day. This is why you can't really buy years worth of shoes on Black Friday. Not sure? It is probably time.

Look for wear on the bottom too. Losing even a little of the area you put so much stress is changing your gait, grip and impact. It can be expensive, but running is a relatively inexpensive hobby to start with. If you have an injury, pain, etc. it likely will be more annoying than the shoes' cost.

For me, my tibialis anterior (front shin muscle) gets knotted up and I switch to new shoes. If it goes away, I donate the older shoes. If the knots stay, I rotate the pair into my runs and wait for the older pair to age out.

THREE QUESTIONS:

• How you know it is time to change out your shoes?

• What is your go-to place to donate shoes to?

• What's your favorite local running store?

Looking forward to pro tip answers from our experts (Reny Diaz, Caroline Bell, Tina Daughtry).

Craig