How to extend the life of running shoes

I took a pair of boots and a pair of hiking shoes down to get repaired recently. Renee looked at the boots and said, “I can repair the heel and sole of the boots. The shoes are factory made shoes and it would be cheaper to buy a new pair than try and have me repair the sole.” He said, “It is the same with factory made boots. I have to take the entire sole off to replace it. Hand stitched boots have a separate sole and a separate heel, and I can replace them easily.” It seems most shoes today are factory made, and while the leather top is in good condition, the sole may begin to wear out. The sole of a factory made shoe is all one piece and if it wears out the entire sole must be replaced. It is cheaper to buy a new pair. And when the outer hard rubber portion wears out the soft rubber underneath is also honeycombed with air holes. It seems every small pebble on the road finds those air holes and every step after that has a click like a tap shoe.

I have been running since back in the late 70’s and early 80’s and recalled my efforts to keep my running shoes lasting as long as possible. It goes back to when I said, “If I have to pay over $40 for a pair of running shoes I’ll find a cheaper pair.” Today the cost is still $40 with an extra $100 cost added to it. And when the bottom wears out there are no repair possibilities other than to buy a new pair. Depending on how many miles a runner puts in every week will determine how long the shoe will last. The ad for the shoes may say they will last a “lifetime” means the lifetime of the shoe not the runner. The running style of the runner also plays a role in how long a shoe will last. I am a neutral pronator runner. My outside corner of the heel is the first part of the sole to go. And when that hard black outer sole wears out the soft cushion rubber will wear out extremely fast. And looking back at those shoes I remember picking up all the small pebbles on the road in the air spaces. That annoying ‘click-click’ sound on a run was enough to make you want to run only on the toe portion of the shoe.

I had two methods to keep my shoes lasting as long as possible. The first goes back to the early 80’s when you could buy a product called “Shoe Goo” and cover the worn area. It came in a tube and had a gooey rubber substance you could put on the worn area. After a few hours – a day of hardening was the best – the shoe was ready to go for a run. The “Shoe Goo” rubber was only a temporary fix and would only last for a few runs before needing another coat. I solved the problem by cutting pieces of tire rubber I would find alongside the road from a shredded car or truck tire. This rubber was hard, and if it was good for a car tire, it was good for my shoe. I glued the car tire on the worn area and put Shoe Goo around the edges to keep it from getting rubbed off. It worked out well in keeping the worn area of the sole in running shape. It worked well enough that I also tried this procedure on my hiking shoes on that corner of the heel that seemed to wear out.

The second method I tried to get the most wear out of my running shoes was to have three pairs. I did not buy them all at once but after a month or so of running. When you have three pairs you wear the most worn pair on short runs and dirt roads. The second pair was worn on middle distance runs. The newest pair was used for long runs training for a marathon. When the first pair finally wore out I bought a new pair and moved every pair down a notch. This worked well as the time between runs gave the inside of the shoe time to recover after being compressed from a run. And not wearing them every day also helped make them last longer. I tried different brands to see which one had the best wear. It seemed the Mizuno shoe lasted the longest but I favored the Brooks and Tiger brands for comfort.

Running style played a role also. A shuffle gait that had the runner landing on the entire surface of the sole lasted longer than a faster runner that landed on that outside corner of the shoe first. Most shoes only last for 300 to 400 miles before they will show signs of wear. Since I ran between 1,500 to 2,300 miles a year when I was into marathon running my concern for the longevity of the shoe was important. Since most of my ‘running’ is now a slow jog or walking my shoes last much longer. I still wear three pairs of shoes to keep them lasting longer. Most of that comes from the old adage I had of not paying over $40 for a pair of shoes. And those ‘racing flats’ I used for races have long ago disappeared.