Everybody has vices. For my wife it is jeans. After going in our closet to count she has a total of 21 pairs! It is not like these are the $30 variety either. I won’t write too much about this because I don’t want to get in trouble.
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| This is normal, right? |
My vice? I like me some good running shoes. Unfortunately I do not rival my wife in the overall number (compared to her jeans) nor time put forth shopping for them. For her I believe it is all about the process of going shopping. More often than not she goes shopping, buys something (which I call getting her fix), then decides she doesn’t like what she bought and returns it two weeks later. I would say only one of two articles of clothing she ever buys makes the cut and is not returned. Case and point, today she returned two pair of shorts to Motherhood Maternity. Last week she returned a bra from the same purchase. Only one tank top made the overall cut!
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| What costs more, these jeans or both of my pairs of running shoes? |
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| We just found out we are having a little girl! |
I, like most guys, are all about the hunt for the good bargain. Normally this comes through purchases at the Running Warehouse. Normally their prices are about 20% less than retail, but with their constant sales, it can be more than 50% off of retail. Honestly I don’t know how they stay in business with this model, but they do.
For the past 3 years or so my main pair of trainers has been the Mizuno Nirvana. I guess I would have to equate this pair of shoes as driving in a nice Cadillac. Because I am not rich and old I have never actually driven in a Cadillac. Nevertheless, I know how they are supposed to drive. They are big, fast and comfortable. Hence the shoes are pretty big, 12.2 ounces, feel fast (even though I am not), and are just about as comfortable for a long run as I could hope for. This is Mizuno’s top of the line shoe for support, which I can tell as I moderately pronate on my right foot. When I run in these shoes I do not get “dead leg” which has happened when I have put a lot of miles on their next model down for support, the Inspire.
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| Mizuno Nirvana 7 |
Without getting a deal these shoes are really expensive. $140 bucks expensive. Even a guy like me who loves to buy running shoes can’t justify that. Right now the Running Warehouse has last years model on sale for $69.88. If you are a Facebook fan of their store you can get an additional 15% off of all their sale merchandise by clicking on their promotion tab. This lowers the cost of the shoes to $59.40 pretax to go along with free 2 day shipping. This is a grand total of 58% off retail! Best thing is you don’t have to go shopping at Ross to get brand names for less.
Because Running Warehouse also price matches I found the current model for $99.99 on another website. All I did was print it out and take it down to their store (their business is mostly online but I live in the same city as the retail store) and voilà, $99.99 plus tax! Their customer service is the best. Even without this deal the shoes still sell for $120, which is $20 cheaper than the retail price. Not too shabby.
The second pair of shoes that I am training in are the Saucony Kinvara. This is almost the lightest shoe that I have ever worn at 7.7 ounces and feels like I am wearing socks instead of shoes. They are a tad bit narrow for my feet but I was shown a new way to lace them up which makes them feel wider than they actually are. They are quite different than my Nirvana because of such a small stature and them being closer to the ground which give me more of a feel for the road. I have only put around 30 miles on this shoe so far but I am looking forward to taking them out on some longer runs to see how my legs and feet hold up. This is the first truly neutral shoe I have run in for a really long time but so far so good.
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| Saucony Kinvara |
As for the deal part… both last years and the current model retails for $90. Since there is relatively no difference between models and last years was on sale, I went for that. I can’t remember the numbers exactly, but I believe they were on sale for around $60. With a monthly email I got an additional 20% off of the sale price. I believe I paid around $55 total for these shoes. That makes for 39% off of the retail price.
All in all I love these both of these shoes right now and I love the Running Warehouse for making me not feel guilty for having the both of them. If only they sold women’s jeans.
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