How to not spend a fortune on running shoes

3/10. No one runs 1500 miles/pair but you got some sincere responses.

Honestly got about 1600 on a pair of infinity reacts ending their lifespan earlier this year. Wore them until the wire began to be exposed and dig at my ankle. Besides that they were doing strong. Thanks for the other responses though. Still no one really answered would buying these lesser quality shows potentially have a significant impact on my chance of injury?

I used to pay more for shoes but then I realised I really liked my Hyperspeeds, whose midsole is just a slab of unstructured EVA so started looking for similar things. My current shoes were £11 from Decathlon (European discount sports store). I get about 800 miles out of them. I end up tossing them after the upper falls apart - usually bust out of either sides at metatarsal heads.

If you're getting 1500 miles out of a pair of shoes (which is hard to believe), you're already way, way ahead of the game. Cheaper shoes probably aren't going to last as long. Besides with a budget goal of $300, you are only off by $20 if you are spending 2x $160.

I run the same volume as you, and I feel like I do go through a bunch of shoes. I paid $160 for a pair of Endorphin Speed's, but all other shoes I've bought in the past two years have been $35-$75. My overall average is ~$60 per pair.

I have to not be too picky, and I have to kind of watch out for great deals when they pop up. I bought a pair of Kinvara 11's for $35 and a pair of Zante Pursuit's for $45. I didn't need new shoes yet when I got those, but I saved a bunch of money by finding them when I did. The Zante Pursuit's turned out to be my favorite shoe ever. I would pay full price if I could find another pair of them in my size, but they seem to be no more.

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

Today, that means I shop at Ross, Burlington, and Nordstrom Rack, and sometimes check in the Nike Factory Outlet. I also grab shoes on ebay.

I've had some success at Sierra Trading Post. Reebox.com always seems to be having a sale as well.

So the Infinity Reacts were the shoes you had before the Arahis? In that case, those are still mild stability shoes. Stability shoes and higher cushion shoes are generally more expensive than neutral or lightweight shoes. Whether you need that stability to not get injured or you would be fine switching to shoes without it, nobody on this board is going to know without watching your walking/running form in person. Hit up your local running store or go to a doctor/PT ( not podiatrist) and see whether they recommend a stability shoe or not. I hope that answers your question about injury to a degree. Some ways to make running shoe purchases cheaper:

-buy lightly used shoes on ebay

-6PM.com

-when a shoe you have enjoyed before updates to a newer iteration, buy what's left of the older model. Possibly in bulk so that you can rotate pairs and allow each pair to last longer with more "rebound time" for the cushioning between runs

-strengthen feet and ankle and improve your gait so that you can transition to more lightweight, flexible neutral shoes. This is a more long-term process. Could go as far as transitioning to minimalist shoes (saying barefoot shoes is an oxymoron). This is not intuitive, but true minimalist shoes will last much longer than conventional road shoes, because there is no midsole foam to be compressed, instead just a full rubber outsole. Brands like Luna, Xero, etc. guarantee their minimalist shoes for thousands of miles.

-Cyclon. On Running has a subscription service for recycled shoes. Nice if you also care about sustainability and lowering your environmental footprint. Pay $30 a month for a pair of shoes (I think they just send you a generic neutral shoe) that you send back for them to recycle and turn into another pair. If you think about it as a $120 shoe that lasts for 4 months when you're doing high mileage that is not a bad deal.

Brands like Nike have a no questions asked 30 day return policy from the date they are shipped. You're really only supposed to get about 400-500 miles on a pair of shoes. So depending on your mileage, you could just by a pair of shoes and then keep returning them within 30 days. Might have to buy one pair you keep for those in-between times, but the chunk of your mileage can be done on returned shoes. I know it's a pretty shady and sh!+y thing to do, but I worked at Nike and customers always did sh!+y things.

Reebok have cheap, long-lasting and decent shoes , and have ridiculous sales (in the UK at least) - I got their Floatride Energy (2 & 3) and Run Fast (1 & 2) for less than £30 each.

You can pick up bargains at places like TK Maxx, I bought Skechers GoRuns for just over £30 from there.

Depending on how flexible you are on brand, model and version, you can always find decent shoes for good prices.

another please wrote:

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

I've been running since the late-70s. The first shoes I bought were Etonic Streetfighters.

I just googled Etonic Streetfighter and that’s a good looking shoe in the navy/yellow color with white laces. Did all those EVA wedge shoes feel the same, like Nike Cortez’s and Unitsuka Tiger’s?

I no longer have my Etonics, but I still have my Asics Tiger Jayhawks.

I have Nike Mariahs from 1982 that had the midsoles turn to dust 20 years ago.

Diadora Primos that weigh 156 grams from 1987.

Tiger Spartan-B spikes.

And the same Adidas flats that DeCastella wore for his 2:08 in 1981.

CrispyChicken wrote:I no longer have my Etonics, but I still have my Asics Tiger Jayhawks.

This is Jim Kiler wrote:I have Nike Mariahs from 1982 that had the midsoles turn to dust 20 years ago.

I loved my Nike Mariah's. Ran some good races in those.

another please wrote:

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

I've been running since the late-70s. The first shoes I bought were Etonic Streetfighters.

I just googled Etonic Streetfighter and that’s a good looking shoe in the navy/yellow color with white laces. Did all those EVA wedge shoes feel the same, like Nike Cortez’s and Unitsuka Tiger’s?

Whoa. Cut back on the false plural nouns, there!

New Balance propel v2 is a really good shoe and it's also very durable. Full carbon rubber sole, the fuelcell midsole doesn't seem to degrade. Much prefer a shoe like this to the marshmallows out there. I reckon I get about 800-900 miles out of them. I paid $40 for them on eBay, new no box. I thought Decathlon could be a real disrupter in the market, good affordable shoes but their prices seem to be creeping up.

I used to work a shoe store so here's my tips:

- first call your local running store, we don't want the old version of shoes, it depends on the place but small stores will often give up to 40% off because they don't have room

- look on the internet for deals on shoes that have recently updated or are about to update, sometimes you'll get lucky and be able to use a coupon to get a good pair for less than $80, but more than likely you can find a shoe that's normally 150-160 for about 100-110

- get multiple pairs, I like to always have 3 trainers in rotation, this allows for the foam to fully decompress before you pound it again and it will give more life to all of your shoes

- finally, shoes with more cushion and a higher $$ are generally always more durable, Hoka Arahi's are Hoka's mid cushion stability shoe, they will break down faster than a more high mileage model. So, factor in the durability to price when purchasing

Brooks Fan! wrote:

CrispyChicken wrote:I no longer have my Etonics, but I still have my Asics Tiger Jayhawks.

I used to have some Etonics as well but not the Streetfighters. Forgot what they were called but it was around 1977-1979.

Pretty much around the same time Nike had the Elite and Brooks the Vantage. Great shoes

another please wrote:

This is Jim Kiler wrote:

I've been running since the late-70s. The first shoes I bought were Etonic Streetfighters.

I just googled Etonic Streetfighter and that’s a good looking shoe in the navy/yellow color with white laces. Did all those EVA wedge shoes feel the same, like Nike Cortez’s and Unitsuka Tiger’s?

Onitsuka Tigers? The ones that were only in blue or red? They were so minimalist you may as well run on kung-fu shoes. I had several pairs of those back in the days.

I didn't go through all of the replies here all that closely so apologies if what I am saying has already been said.

If I find a pair of shoes that I really like, I'll buy them in bulk. I don't like buying "cheap" shoes, though. There is a difference between "cheap" and "inexpensive." To me, cheap implies inferior quality.

People have mentioned outlet stores and those can be good. I like Nike shoes for lounging around in, as a casual shoe, or for cross-training with weights, basketball, etc, but I don't like their running shoes. I have an outlet near me that I have bought shoes from and it looks like there is a good selection of running shoes but since I don't like them I haven't looked all that closely. There is also Adidas & Under Armour outlet stores in the same complex and they have a decent selection as well.

My favorite running shoes are New Balance, Saucony, and Hoka. Google "Joe's New Balance Outlet." I've bought a lot of shoes from that store. Also, there are discount codes on the internet if you look for them. I have "Piggy" on my computer (you may have heard of it) and it will find the discount without having to google them. Joe's also has cashback if you log into Piggy first. The last deal I got from Joe's was a pair of New Balance Mores. They're kind of like NB's version of a max cushioned Hoka. I think that they were originally $150 and I bought them for $50. On my first run, I knew I was going to like them so I ordered another pair. I think that NB is now on the 3rd version of it. I've bought 1080's there also. I saw that someone mentioned Running Warehouse and that is also a good place to pick up some bargains and they are also generous with returns. I bought a pair of 1080v10 there when the 11s came out and they were $70ish. The original price is about $130something.

I really liked the Saucony Zealot ISO3 but Saucony doesn't even make the Zealot anymore. The ISO3 version of it was like a more cushioned version of the Kinvara. I found someone selling them on eBay (new) for about $50 so I ordered 3 pairs and still have a pair that hasn't been used yet. When Hoka came out with the Challenger ATR (a trail version of the Clifton) about 6 years ago I liked it a lot. I found a retailer that had them for about $50 and bought a few pairs of those.

It just takes patience and perseverance. If you do find a pair that you really like, it might be wise to reorder them because once they're gone, they're gone. Also, this website is pretty good for finding deals. Just enter the name of the shoe that you are interested in and multiple retailers will come up -

https://runrepeat.com/