Countdown to Boston: New Kicks!

Note: With Boston only days away (9 to be precise), I'm going to begin a countdown to Boston series of posts. In the final days of the taper, it's hard to get my brain to focus on much other than the upcoming race, but with plenty of Boston-related topics, hopefully I can at least keep the blog interesting.

It's a common piece of advice that the last thing you want to do is run the marathon in a new pair of shoes. By the time race day comes around you're supposed to have done plenty of training runs in your shoes so there are no surprises on race day. I have no plans to mess with that this time around, but that doesn't mean I won't be picking up a new pair in Beantown.

One of my training shoes and the that pair I've worn in my last two marathons is the New Balance 890. They're the company's lightest neutral trainer at 9.7 oz and I've found them surprising comfortable, especially since I was used to a more cushioned (and therefore heavier) shoe. They have a seamless upper which is great because it means there's not much that can rub your feet.

This year, in honor of the Boston Marathon, New Balance is releasing a special limited edition of the 890v2. Adidas may be the race's official sponsor, but New Balance is Massachusetts born and bred. I don't really buy into gimmicks like limited edition shoes (Asics has offered NYC Marathon editions of some of their trainers the past couple years) but since I'm in the market for a new pair post-marathon, I might just pick these ones up.

I wish I had a better photo, but here's why these shoes are wicked awesome: the tips of the shoe laces say "run fastah"; the inside is decorated with Boston icons like Heartbreak Hill, a pint of beer, and the ducklings statue from the Public Garden; the heel has a lobster on it. I know I'm going to squander some hard-earned dough on a race souvenir, so it might as well be something I can use, like these shoes.
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Today's Run: