These are my Mizuno Enerzy. They are only a few years old, but they survived my 110kg to 75kg, 5km in 50 mins to 10km in 55 mins fitness journey. Its getting a bit embarrasing at the gym when people see the duct tape. Ive already stitched the holes up three times.
How long are running shoes supposed to last you? They are expensive! Are they expected to do this, or should they last much longer?
Most online stores for running shoes have pretty good return policies, so i'd just buy from those that allow returns. But i've only had to use returns once or twice between my many orders. Tbh i've only ever bought my first pair locally, felt ripped off paying 140€ for a pair of asics gt-2000 and ever since ordered online without issues.
You want them to be comfortable and with roughly 1 thumb width of space in the front. Also lacing matters a lot. I've had shoes hurt after a few km running, because i laced them too tightly. Which was fine at the start, but during your run your feet will swell up a bit (that is also what the extra space in front helps with).
As said for me the thing that works is to google a size chart for the model and not go by EU sizes, but cm (or JPN sizing, which equals cm). Those are very consistent between brands. For example my "main" brand is probably saucony where i have a EU46, which correlates to 29,5cm. I had my Brooks Hyperion tempo in EU45,5, which for brooks is 29,5cm. And i had 3 pairs of puma so far (2 velocity, 1 liberate nitro) all in 46 that in reality are actually a bit long, which tracks with the fact that for puma EU46 is 30cm. So i know i ideally want 29,5cm with 30cm being fine (but anything shorter doesnt work).
Beyond that it is just minor fit differences, e.g. altra shoes have wide toe boxes, nike are said to run a bit narrow and so on. Usually you can learn these from a decent review, if they mention it.
That said for this to work you need to either know your shoe size at least once. Either from your old shoes, trying some in store, or you estimate with the guides on online sites (and return if they end up the wrong size).
As for which type of shoes to buy, unless you have a rotation of multiple shoes you'll probably just want a decent and versatile daily trainer, which basically every brand offers.
Well I gave it a shot and got some discounted Mizuno trail run shoes in my size. Im sure they will be fine. Thanks for the advice!
Nice, hope it works out for you! Usually brands are consistent within their lineup, so that should make things easier. Mizuno is one of the brands I've not tried yet, but might if I find a good deal.
Also since I just got another pair in the mail myself, which kind of helps my point: Found a good deal on a pair of craft shoes (pro Endur distance) and actually ordered in EU45 (a full size smaller than my typical shoes), since the size guide had that listed as equalling 29,5cm. Never had one of their shoes before.
Having them in person now the length seem correct and I have about a thumb width of space. I only have to test if the toebox shape works for my large toe during long runs, but that is something I couldnt really determin in a shop either.