When I opened up Facebook on Friday I realized that one of my worst nightmares was coming true and Inov-8 was changing the style of my shoes to a wider version. What? One of the reasons I have always worn the Inov-8’s is because they are narrow and are an amazing racing shoe but with them widening the toe box I think there is going to be way too much movement in the shoe. My last 27 pairs of shoes (not an exaggeration) all my shoes have all been Inov-8 212’s or Inov-195’s and starting this spring or fall I may be stuck looking for a new show to run in. I can tell you that in the meantime I will be buying up every size 13 Inov-8 Talon 212 on the market before any corrections are made. Why do the shoe companies always feel the need to change something that is so great? Apparently they have had numerous suggestions to make their shoes wider but no mention has been made if they will keep the normal width shoes for those of us with skinny feet. I have always found the wider the shoe and the more space there is for my foot to move around the more likely I am to roll my ankle and get blisters on my toes. I have never been a person that gets blisters and it might have something to do with the perfect shoe and now it could be back to the drawing board.

My hope is that an executive over at Inov-8 reads my blog and says their changing the shoes but they will still carry normal the width shoes. I know every runner has been through this scenario and are forced to make the decision of taking to the internet to find every last remaining perfect shoe in their size or giving into the shoe companies and trying out the new and improved model. Can’t they just change the color and leave everything else alone? One would think that too much change has resulted in some negative consequences over the years but obviously marketing and money dictates bringing out new designs. I think one of the best examples is what Brooks did to the Cascadia’s years ago. While I long gave up on them because they felt like bricks on my feet I heard so many people complain and switch away from them when they redesigned the bottoms of the shoes and went with a soft spike golf shoe bottom. They had the most popular shoe on the market and a change in grip and structure of the shoe lead people to look for a different model. This is a shoe that so many people relied upon and it was easily the most popular introductory shoe into the trail running market but that ship has sailed and companies like Inov-8 and Hoka have come in and become the leaders in the trail running community.

I understand that technology evolves and most of us are using Mac’s and have long thrown away the Commodore 64’s but at least the changes that were made in technology helped improve our lives. The difference between the dot matrix printer and the laser printer is incredible but I think all the oil change companies in the world found the dot matrix works best for their business and 25 years after a real printer was invented they still all pull the holes off the sides of their paper to give customers a receipt from the dot matrix. My point being why changes something that has always worked and will work great for years to come. Yes, people want to see change and very few people still have TV’s that don’t hang on their walls but again this was for the better and a wider shoe does nothing except lose your current clientele and bring in people that may or may not like your shoes. In this case the shoe companies are trying to satisfy a select group of runners and they seem to forget that a lot of the money coming in for their product is from repeat customers that have found the perfect fit. Trail running is becoming more popular and shoe companies are coming up with new designs all the time but most of them will never compete with the companies that have been around for a long period of time. It takes a long time to find the perfect size, width, comfort, padding, stability, grip, and laces. I love my current Inov-8 Talon 212’s so much that I specifically have a brand new pair to wear when I begin a race no matter what the distance. I know as soon as I pull the shoe out of the box it will be the perfect fit and there is no break in period necessary. I have ran three 100 mile events, two 100k’s and numerous 50 mile and 50K’s with shoes right out of the box. We often hear stores tell you to break a pair in like a new car but I don’t really understand that concept unless the shoe wasn’t really designed for your foot. It makes me laugh to think people still wait 500 miles before they will drive over 55 miles and hour and they don’t drive more than 50 miles a day because that’s the way a new engine should be broken in. Take it slow and only go a few miles a day. What difference does it make if you run 5 miles in a pair of shoes or if you run 100 miles because it is either the right shoe for you or it is the wrong shoe?

I often get asked by friends how many miles I get out of a pair of shoes and I really don’t know because I rotate between four pairs of shoes. I like to buy two pairs every other month and rotate them with two pairs that probably have a hundred or so miles on them so I always have a fresh pair for races, long runs, and on trails that I know will be extremely rocky. I understand getting upset about a shoe is ridiculous to most but I have been wearing these shoes for the last 3.5 years and 9000+ miles and the only thing that will get me to change is a change in the fit. These shoes don’t make me any faster or any better of a runner but just like my daughter loves her American Girl doll and can’t sleep without her, I love these shoes and can’t run without them. I have been offered pairs of demo shoes and free pairs but why change something that is already perfect? Shoe reps say you should try these with more heel to toe drop or these will help you recover faster after a long run but I have never had a foot issue and switching to something that could potentially cause one really scares me and could signal the end of my long distance running. If I was someone who constantly got blisters or had sore legs I would be more than willing to look for an alternative but in the meantime I’m good where I’m at as long as Inov-8 keeps making my shoe just how I like them.

I realize that I just went off on a tangent about something that everyone has dealt with at one point or another but this is my two cents on why they shouldn’t change the Talon 212’s. Yes I’m just another runner who likes his shoes but I probably buy more shoes than any non sponsored athlete on the market. I run 365 days a year, 4000 plus miles each year, up and over mountains, through mud, water, over 8 billion rocks and not once have I ever gone out of the box and tried a different shoe or company. I guess I can adjust to the wider model but please don’t change anything else about the shoe and in case no one learned their lesson from Reebok; we don’t need a basketball on the tongue of our shoe to pump up before we go and run. Ask Dee Brown if it made him a better basketball player to pump up his shoes before he went out for the dunk contest and the answer is no just like as runners we don’t need all the fancy new gadgets, we can accept loud obnoxious colors (which I love) and crazy designs but leave the base of the shoe alone. Before you send the comment that the F-Lite 195′s are technically a cross fit shoe and I should wear an Inov-8 road shoe I will give you the same response I just did about the Talon 212′s. I love them and I see no reason to change perfection. What is your perfect shoe? What shoe did you wear until the shoe company changed them to a different style? Do you try new brands even after you found the perfect fit or are you satisfied?

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