I retire my shoes at 400 miles. I notice they're getting old around the 350 point, but can ususally squeeze out that last 50 miles although I've learned to avoid doing long runs on old shoes. Since last summer, I've rotated two pair at a time (different brands). Started doing this when pair A was at 200 miles. This is working well for me.

Mary

i get about 150

the aches are a clue. try new ones, if the aches go, so should the shoes

ps bring them back to store and show them. they might say "hey you are wearing these funny" (like backwards! just kidding) - but maybe they are getting worn down in certain spots too fast and you need different kind of shoe

or maybe, like me, you're just a big person who destroys shoes fast

It's hard to tell if a shoe is 'used up' just by mileage numbers. I can only get about 300-350 out of my Asic Kayanos, but have gone over 500, no trouble, with my Mizunos. Listen to your aches and pains!

As for pronation, you can get a good idea of how much you pronate with this trick my physical therapist showed me when I was having mega-problems with PF: stand with your feet about 6 inches apart. Have a friend twist/lift your arch slightly until your ankles are parallel to the floor, then when they let go, relax back to normal stance. How much do your ankles move? The more your ankles tilt back down or your arches sink, the greater support you will need, so you should look into stability plus or motion control shoes.

This is pretty much what a good running shoe store will do for you, too. They will also help you find a shoe that fits not just the total length of your foot but also makes sure the arch is fitting in the right place. (Ex: Sauconies fit me great if I just go with feel/total length, but the arch is always in the wrong place which you really start to notice after a few miles.)

Good luck!

Probaby a good idea to not replace your shoes right before your 1/2 marathon unless you are super sure of what you are replacing them with.

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Patty

Agreed. My DD is 5'6" ans eighs maybe 120. Not heavy by any measure. She is such a heavy foot striker that she burns through shoes in a hurry.

She sounds like she is bringing down the house when she just walks normally.

if i had at least two pieces of advice to give you, they'd be to lose the thick socks (for other reasons), and to buy a full length insole...myself, i use the roadrunner sport's stabil II, which i like pretty well...

anyways, to answer the question, i tend to get about 200 combined miles out of my brooks radius 6s, but i was able to resurrect a pair when i bought the new insoles, and i am now approaching 250 with no sign of stopping...a lot of the aches and pains for me come from the compacted insole no longer providing any cush at all...

I can't recommend strongly enough that you get fitted at a running store. Perhaps my lengthy story will help to illustrate why.

I started running a year ago (tomorrow is my 1-year "runniversary"!) and had worn out three pairs of shoes in just over 100 miles each by the first of the year. I'd cruise along feeling great until the shoes reached about the 100-mile mark and almost instantly be in agony. Each time, I was ready to quit running, and each time a new pair of shoes made it fun again.

By the third pair, I was totally ready to quit running because there was no way I could spend the kind of money it would take to replace shoes every 100 miles, but unwilling to do so without some serious investigation as to why I burned through shoes so quickly. The wear pattern on all three was very distinct - the sole was almost completely worn away under the ball of each foot in an almost-perfect circular pattern, but the rest of the sole looked almost new.

Before buying pair #4, I had the owner of the running store analyze my gait more carefully. I had been fitted for the other pairs by other clerks in the same store, all runners experienced at fitting shoes. The owner has an M.S. in exercise physiology and really took a lot of time with me. She determined that I had some serious gait issues. She had me try SuperFeet inserts and said that if they stopped working within about 5 runs to go to a podiatrist whom she recommended.

The SuperFeet were awesome for about 2 runs, so I quickly called the podiatrist. Also a runner, he determined that I had limited ankle strength and almost no ankle flexibility which was causing me to twist my feet every time I landed. He said I was closer than I realized to doing serious damage to my ankles and/or knees. He tweaked the SuperFeet a little and I've been doing PT for abour 6 weeks. The results have been amazing - almost like I'm learning to walk and run all over again, and I'm doing it without pain or strange wear patterns on my shoes.

From day one, the attitude of the both running store owner and the doctor has been to help me find a solution so that I can keep running.

I'm so fortunate to have found this store owner (and subsequently this doctor) and even more fortunate that I literally drive past both the store and the doctor's office on the way to and from work every day. But if they were both far away, the help I've gotten there is worth a very lengthy trip.

Good luck!! Eliz