Tuesday, September 16, 2014

9/16/14: 1740.2 to 1749.2 miles: High cost of Road Walking Shoes

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Virtual Hike
Unfortunately, Google's animated street is still insisting on misplacing one of the waypoints. This will happen for another couple posts. To help you stay oriented I included a link to the weather map. This map will be for the day you click the link.

Yesterday afternoon I took a walk to the grocery store. It is about 3.3 miles round trip. I'd decided to get something to eat outside the store after I was shopping. That was going to be my picture for the day. On the way for the store, I saw a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk outside an all you can eat restaurant. I decided to buy something for him at the grocery store and join him for an early supper. I got a wrap and a soda for both of us.

Scott was studying to be a doctor. He had an old dog-eared book about medical terminology and he was working exercises in the book. He was one of the most unusual homeless people I've met. He was worried about being stolen and sold to the Russians or sold to people in the Middle East. Maybe that is really happening to the homeless. I don't know.

After eating, we said our goodbyes and I went on my way. I enjoyed eating with Scott.

Shoe Recommendation
Yesterday, someone asked me what type of shoes I wear while road walking. Generally, I wear combat boots. Since I seldom see people wearing combat boots, I know the answer is a surprise and usually discounted. People should wear what's comfortable, but there is more to the decision for road walking. I'll spend a few days writing about the factors in my decision.

Cost per mile
Most people are concerned with comfort and ignore cost per mile. I walk about 10 miles a day, so it is an important factor. Shoe manufacturers would like us to replace our shoes after 200 miles. I find running style shoes or hiking style shoes usually last about 400 miles. 

Assume a pair of running shoes costs $100 and lasts 400 miles. The cost per mile is the price divided by the miles. 

$100/400 = $0.25

How much is 25 cents a mile? Gasoline is $3.57 a gallon today. I get 30 miles to the gallon. If I walk 30 miles in these shoes, it is the equivalent of paying $7.50 per gallon. It turns out that based solely (pun intended) on the cost of gas, it is cheaper to drive than to walk.

To put it in other terms, I'd have to buy new running shoes about every six weeks. 

Compare this to my combat boots. I paid $135 for the boots I have now. I stopped logging the miles accurately a couple months ago when I had 2,800 miles on the boots. I probably have close to 3,000 miles on the boots now. They look like they could easily last another 3,000 miles, but I'll use 3,000 in the calculation.

$135/2,800 = $0.04. This is less than 1/6 the cost of running or hiking shoes. Clearly, combat boots win the contest based on cost per mile.

In the next post I'll reveal how to give your shoes eternal soles, so be sure to watch for it.

See you down the road,

Road Walking

1 comment:

  1. It was me who asked. Never looked at it that way and have no idea how many miles my Meindls do before they die. Ive had this pair over a year and I guess they've walked between 2000 and 2500 miles and cost £140.00. They're still going strong.:)

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