I have just brought a new pair of running shoes (brooks switch). From reading around the net and in running books, it has said that the average life of running shoes is 400-500 miles.

As I will be running my first marathon in September I have started my training early and have made up 28 week program.

The total amount of running that I will do leading up to the marathon is 1400 km. Does this mean that I my running shoes will wear out in this time? How long does the average running shoe last for you? It sounds to me a bit ridiculous because if what I have read is true it means I will probably go through 2-3 pairs a year.

You're lucky. I wish I could only go through that many pairs per year.

I rotate through about 6 pairs at a time and generally get upwards of 1000km per pair. I'm fortunately a neutral runner and tend to wear shoes down fairly evenly. I use them for long runs on hard surfaces for about the first 500 or 600km and then they get used for shorter faster runs and runs on grass and trails until they're trashed.

I'm always on the lookout for bargains on eBay and at sales, trying to avoid latest models and thus saving about 50% on average over time.

I average about 120km per week incidentally. And another 30km or so of fast walking.

Probably. You might well have worn out two pairs. So you might as well buy that second pair now, and rotate them. Overall you will be better off.



About three months.



It's still a cheap sport, is it not?

3 pairs of shoes a year seems reasonable to me. I run road during the week and trails on the weekend and probably go through 2 pairs of road shoes and 2 pairs of trail shoes a year. Even though I only run trails once a week, it's not unusual to log the same amount of time in them compared to my road shoes for the whole week. When I was only running road stuff I went through 3 and a bit pairs a year. I guess it depends on your running style and weight.