Mizuno Wave Nirvana 6 Women's Running Shoes

I went walking around Brentwood on Saturday and decided to stop by FrontRunners to pick up a new pair of running shoes since my old ones are almost 2 years old and pretty beat since I use them almost everyday.  It was actually my first time going into FrontRunners even though I live right around the corner.  I had read good reviews about them on Yelp.  And I firmly believe that you should go to a running shoe store where the employees are runners themselves and can look at the way you walk/run and suggest the right shoes for you.  There are just SO many different kind of running shoes out there that do different things, and it would be impossible to pick some out yourself without help. 

My old shoes are New Balance, and I've been suspecting for a while now that they just aren't a very good fit, even though I did go to a specialty running shoe store to get them.  It might have been because I told the guy that helped me to only show me shoes under $100.  Well, this time I decided to not worry about the price and just get a pair of great fitting shoes.  The guy that helped me seemed knowledgable enough, and he measured both of my feet instead of just one like most places do.  That was great, since my right foot is slightly bigger than my left.  Then he looked at my pronation while I walked.  I guess I'm pretty neutral with a little bit of over pronation.  He then brought out a pair of Mizuno Wave Nirvana 6 and a pair of Asics (can't remember the exact model I tried). 

I tried the Mizunos on first and felt in love with them immediately!  Then I tried on the Asics, and while they were nice and probably better than my New Balance, they just didn't wow me the same way the Mizunos did.  My usual shoe size is 6, but I tried on size 6.5 to give a little room for swelling. 

The description on the Mizuno website states this:  SmoothRide Engineered, Full-length Composite Double Fan Wave provides superior protection while offering excellent support to the moderately overpronating foot. Incorporating the latest advancements in Dynamotion Fit allows for unparalleled fit while in motion. Combination solid rubber/blown rubber forefoot outsole design for cushioning, flexibility, and durability.

I know it's a little bit to weird to have a "love at first sight" kind of thing with a pair of running shoes.  But that's exactly what happened!  They felt SOOO comfortable as soon as I put them on.  It was like they were hugging all the right curves on my feet!  The sales guy said they fit kind of like gloves, which is exactly right!  I walked around the store with them on and they felt very light, bouncey, cushiony and flexible - big difference from my New Balance shoes that feel heavy and clunky!  The upper and side part of the shoe is stretchy mesh, which feels really great on.  Kind of gives a custom made type of feel.  I'm usually a pretty indecisive person, but I decided to get these right away.  Plus they are so cute with the teal colored accents which just happened to match my teal shirt at the time.  =)

This morning at the gym I finally had a chance to test them out!  I ran about 1.5 miles while waiting for my boot camp class to start.  These felt so wonderful!  I am guessing it must be the shoes because I was able to run faster and not get as tired...?!?  I felt like they helped my performance enormously.  Amazing!  I can't wait to test them outside and see what difference they make.  Oh my gosh, who knew that I could have ran so much faster with a better pair of shoes???  I'm only kicking myself that I did not do it sooner!

Oh yeah, on a side note, I checked on the LA Marathon site today for the 5K rankings, and looks like I finished #71 out of almost 2000 female runners.  Overall ranking I think was 200 something out of 5000 people.  Not bad.  That's definitely among the top 5%.  But I wonder how much better it would have been if I had my new shoes!!!