New shoes old shoes, red shoes brown shoes

With over 140 miles and ten months on them my old shoes are retired. I only wore these shoes when I was hiking so they were used on average less then once a week. The outside of my old shoes look good but there is a hole in the tread are they getting worn out on the inside. There is a hole in the inside liner where the backs of my heels must rub. I officially retired them by taking the green super feet insoles out and transferring them to my new shoes.

My old hiking shoes are now my around town shoes, or they will be with some hidden duct tape and shoe goo. Like I said the outsides still look good. I don't wear current hiking shoes around town because walking on pavement quickly wears out the soft rubber on hiking shoes.



These shoes had a stiff metal shank that was held in place by paper. The paper melted and the shanks fell out the first time I got the shoes wet. I did not miss the stiff shanks and the shoes were fine with my green super feet inside them to give them some structure. The soles were very thin without the metal shank, without the insoles I added these shoes would have been garbage the moment the shanks fell out. I think it is very shoddy design to use paper inside of any shoes but especially in trail running / hiking shoes.

It always seem to me that my hiking shoes wear out too soon and that is why I decided to keep track of how many miles and months these shoes lasted. I don’t think that 140 miles is excessive, I would have expected them to last longer. I bought these shoes at Big 5 and they were deeply dicounted. I think I paid less then $40.00 for them.

I splurged and bought new waterproof hiking shoes for $110. With waterproof shoes, gaiters and rain pants my feet should stay dry for the winter. I have had this brand of shoe before and I really liked the way they felt but was not happy with how quickly they started leaking. But I bought these at REI and REI has a lifetime warranty on all of their products.



If the Gortex fails in a short time and my new shoes are no longer waterproof I am going to return them. Gortex lined shoes and boots always seem to fail and start leaking in just a few months and they are very expensive. It has been over a year since I have had gortex lined shoes or boots so maybe they have improved in the last year but I doubt it.

I am still too ill with a fever to go hiking. Since I'm not manic the fever is really dragging me down. All I can do now is rest up and try to get better by the start of winter quarter. I hope I get well soon enough to get in at least one hike. I was really looking forward to doing a lot of hiking while my husband was home for winter break but I have been too sick with a fever to hike at all.