The shoes described in this post were given to me free-of-charge by an acquaintance, without the expectation of a published review. Although I received the product for free, I am writing this review simply because I love the shoes and want to tell you about them. This post contains affiliate links.
Did I ever tell you about the time I met the Mizuno rep in a bounce house?
We were at a family party for a mutual friend, and our kids were having a blast playing in the bounce house. He & I started chatting. I happened to mention that I’m a marathon runner. (Because, marathon.) And then I happened to mention that I have a running blog. (Because, blogger.)
Next thing I know, he’s pulling this brand new pair of Wave Rider 17’s out of his car. They were beautiful. They were my size. And they were a perfect fit. It was kind of like hitting the Running Blogger Lottery.
photos courtesy of Amazon.com
So I want to share my thoughts on these shoes. But I need to warn you – I’m not a shoe expert or a foot specialist. I’m just a regular girl who likes to run in comfortable shoes. I can’t tell you about cool stuff like torsional rigidity or heel-to-toe differential. But here’s what I can tell you: I’ve already put close to 300 miles on these babies. When I got them, I wasn’t even in the market for new running shoes. I already had a relatively new pair that I was pleased with – a pair of lightweight, light stability Nikes.
The first thing I noticed about the Wave Rider 17’s is how light they are, even compared with my Nikes, which only weigh about 9 ounces (source: runnersworld.com). The Wave Rider 17 is only 7.8 ounces (source: mizunousa.com).
The next thing I noticed was that my new shoes and old shoes felt distinctly different on my foot. For me, the main difference was the absence of the supportive arch in the Wave Riders. The Wave Rider is a neutral shoe, and I wasn’t sure how it would work out for me. I’ve been told that I overpronate my left foot and that I need a mild stability shoe to correct this. And truthfully, it did take a few good runs to adjust to the difference and to break in my new shoes.
For a while, I switched back and forth between the two types of shoes (partly because I felt guilty about not getting the maximum use out of an expensive pair of running shoes). But then I wore my Wave Riders on a couple of long (20+ mile) runs. And pretty soon after that, they replaced the Nikes as my everyday running shoes.
Probably the most important piece of information that I can give you about my Wave Rider 17’s is that I wore them in February when I ran the 26.2 with Donna. And I finished the marathon with no blisters, very little foot pain, and all of my toenails intact.
And to me, that feels like winning the Running Blogger Lottery too.
To learn more about the Mizuno running products, including the Waver Rider 17’s, visit www.mizunousa.com/running. You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
What kind of running shoes are you wearing these days?