Running Gear Adviser: Pumped Up Kicks and Halloween Kicks All In One

I ran 8 miles on Wednesday and 7.5 this morning. It was a balmy 64 degrees at 7am. I did 8 x 100m strides. My legs felt heavy this morning. I've been doing over 300 reps of a variety of glute exercises this past week (I also do about 400 crunches), but it feels like I'm working my quadriceps in some of the squats more than my glutes. I'm wondering if this contributed to the "lead leg" dilemma this morning or if it was just one of those lead leg runs (which I've been known to have). And my right knee is feeling a little "funny". I've been wearing a brace the past couple of days. Too much too soon?

I train with two pairs of sneakers. I wear my older pair for my shorter runs, and then my newer pair one day a week for my long runs. After the marathon, I decided it was time to get new sneakers. Since I was having weird toe stiffness lately, I thought I might try a different brand of sneaker. I actually started wearing an old pair of Nikes I discarded 5 years ago because they fit too snug. Now they hug my toes in nicely and are practically new since I only wore them running twice when I got them. I'm wearing them during the week and my Adidas Adizeros for my long runs. As for my new pair, a friend recommended Asics. He felt that nowadays most brands are pretty good, but his fast friends seem to like Asics and he thinks they feel pretty good. I trust his opinion on all things running, so Asics it is. I found a pair of the Gel Nimbus 15s on sale on Running Warehouse. Normally they run between $145-$155. I got them for $109 plus FREE SHIPPING (my two favorite online words)! They feel nice and cushy. I will wear them for the first time running tomorrow when I do my 12 miler. I might wear them a couple of more times, but then I'm going to put them away until my next marathon training cycle starts again in January. At that point, my Adidas will be my shorter run shoes and the Asics will be my long haulers. Confused? Yeah, me too.