New running shoes are a wonderful thing... just not before a race. Therefore, I waited to buy a new pair until after the marathon.


Normally, I am a Nike kind of girl. I have owned several different Nike's from the Nike Frees to Nike Pegasus (one extreme to the other basically). I have always found Nike to be narrow enough for my feet and high quality enough that I wasn't replacing the shoe every month. 


But I am a convert...I bought my first pair of Asics and I am in love. Check them out! These shoes have everything! Highly recommend if you have narrow feet to try them. Asics do not have wide sizes so, if you have wider feet you are S.O.L. 


I bought the Asics-33 Gel Blur, Asics' version of the barefoot or minimalist running shoe that seems to be so popular currently in the the running world. Since I have been using shoes such as the Vibram Five Finger Shoes and Nike Free (both are more minimalist running shoes than this particular one) I was not afraid to go for it. In fact, I would recommend this shoe if you are thinking about making the switch. It has more support in the heel than the Nike Free's and it is still extremely light.


I do still own my Vibrams (aka the creepy toe shoes) and I love them...for shorter runs (13.1 miles or under).  On longer runs, I have found my toes need a little more protection than the shoes can provide. Granted, if I was doing an all trail run in dirt I may be able to handle the distance runs in the shoe. I ran my full marathon in my Nike Frees and didn't end up with any blisters and in fact my feet felt great after the run.


Side Note: The shoes did run smaller than my previous running shoes (with room to spare in the toes). In Nike I wear a 8.5 and in the Asics I made the jump to a 9.