Before I jump into this post about my running shoes of choice, I wanted to give you a quick summary on my running background. I am still relatively new to running, meaning I did not grow up running track and cross country. I really started running when I graduated from college (aside from running 1 season of track my senior year of high school). I swam competitively through high school and college, but would run for fun and to stay in shape in the off season. Once I graduated from college swimming was harder to fit into my schedule and I was ready for a change, so I began running a lot more.

I have run 1 marathon, 3 halfs and a few 5 and 10Ks since I began focusing on running. I enjoy racing, but really I just LOVE to run. I do not need a race on my calendar to motivate myself to run. I have had some injuries over the past year and had to drop out of the Boston Marathon last spring, which was a big disappointment. As of right now, I am not planning any races until next Fall. My main focus right now is running for fun and staying injury free for the wedding – gotta be able to walk down the aisle in my heels 🙂

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Mizuno’s have been my go-to running shoes for years now. I have probably had 12-16 pairs in the past 4-ish years. I try to replace them every 3-4 months, which is already longer than recommended, but sometimes I get cheap and push them a little longer than that. I do not recommend this, it does not help out with injury prevention! As you can see I get bored with running in and looking at the same shoe, so I often try out a new shoe.

Here’s what I have in my closet right now:

Mizuno Wave Inspire 11:

I’ll start with what I am currently running in and work back to the oldest shoe in my closet. I got these about a month ago. They are a little heavier than the shoes I am used to, but offer more support than some of the shoes you will see below. I don’t always opt for a support shoe, but after I got injured I have been wearing more supportive shoes to try to prevent hurting myself again. For a support shoe they are not terribly heavy – they weigh 8.9oz. So far I have been very happy with them. Plus I love the color, so that is a plus!

Mizuno Wave Enigma 3:

This is a very sturdy shoe that held up well. But they are clunkier than I like my shoes to be and very controlling. Some people need this level of support, but ultimately they were too heavy for me, weighing in at 11oz.

Mizuno Wave Hitogami 2 and Mizuno Wave Hitogami:

I had these 2 pairs of shoes back to back so I clearly like them. The originals weigh only 6.2oz, and the 2s up 1 ounce to 6.3. This weight makes them very easy to run in, my feet never felt heavy. However, I don’t think I should have run in them as an every day shoe. They are low profile by design to be a fast training shoe and not the best shoe for every day running (at least not for me). If I were to buy this generation again I would buy them to accompany a more solid shoe and switch between the 2 depending on my run that day. One weird difference between them is that the originals have awesome laces that are really sturdy and the 2s have really long and thin laces, which in my opinion are the worst kind

Mizuno Wave Hitogami Racing Flat: 

I bought these not really realizing they were racing flats… I really only wore them for training workouts and cross training. But as you can see I still got good wear out of them. They also weigh 6.2oz, but hug closer to your feet, which makes them wear more quickly.

Mizuno Wave Ronin 5:

(photo from Pinterest)

I cheated on this one – I do not have them in my closet anymore. I just threw them out a few weeks ago because I stepped in dog poop and could not deal with it 🙁 . They are my favorite Mizuno shoe and the only shoe I have bought more than once and will definitely buy again. They are the lightest shoes we have discussed so far, weighing in at only 5.8oz, but they are sturdier than the Hitogamis because they do not have as low a profile and the outsole provides cushion and grip. They are also very flexible to allow for natural motion. Plus they have sparkly laces – who doesn’t want that?!

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I generally keep between 4-5 pairs of Mizunos on hand, but I retire them from running after 3-4 months (or around 400 miles) and use them for cross training and hiking. When I get a new pair I make myself throw out or give away one pair (usually the oldest pair), but I like to have a lot of options on hand. Plus, when you pay $80-$120 per pair you have to get your moneys worth out of them – I think I definitely do!

For me, optimally, I would buy a pair of Wave Ronins (last shoe) and Wave Inspire 11s (first shoe) at the same time and alternate them depending on what kind of run I was doing/how I was feeling (I may have just convinced myself to do this 🙂 ) I never get bored with Mizuno’s shoe options or designs and have found a lot of great shoes that work for me!

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PS. This was Layla’s favorite blog project thus far 🙂

(So many shoe’s out of the closet at once!)

***Disclaimer – This post is not sponsored by Mizuno, all opinions are my own.