Running Shoe Upate part 2

I posted a bit back about the shoes I was still wearing and the ones that I had retired and I mentioned I had some new ones. Funny thing about those new ones, I ended up returning both pairs and the process appears to be hassle free.

First about the ones I returned, I bought some old standbys, Saucony's current incarnation of their Grid Omni and since the price was right their Grid Guide Trail. I bought them at Sierra Trading Post again using their coupons to get extra off (this time it was an additional 25% off and free shipping). You should be able to get a coupon either from them (sign up for dealflyers) or online at the coupon places like retailmenot.com, couponcabin.com, etc. For those not familiar with Sierra Trading Post, they sell closeouts and seconds and I should add I have no financial interest in them. I just like the fact that I have gotten some decent deals on shoes having bought 4 or 5 pairs of shoes from them with no issues with the purchase and no issues getting my mileage out of them. I have bought shoes from local running stores, REI, Backcountry, Zappos with success but the prices at Sierra, I haven't been able to beat.

In this case, I got both pairs for $101, the Progrid Omni 8's I paid $52, normal price at Sierra Trading $79.95, normal retail $110.00, the day I bought them they were marked down to $69.95 plus the 25% off, so you need to be patient to get the the absolute best price and you should wait for a coupon if you can.

ProGrid Omni 8

The Progrid Guide Trails were $64.95 plus the 25% off so about $49.

ProGrid Guide Trail

Why did I return them, well when I put them on I remembered why I quit wearing the Omni's, the heel slipped. Saucony's usually have a narrow heel but there is something about the heel cup that isn't right for me. I could have laced them differently but I don't like doing that and I especially didn't want to do it on both pairs. So I decided the right thing to do was to try and return then. So what is the return policy at Sierra Trading Post, they say free with one caveat. When you buy shoes, they send you a return label from UPS. Their policy is that they deduct $5.75 from your original order but if you do an exchange the shipping on the new order is free.

So with the plan in place to ship them back I went to their website to take a look and see if they had some that I wanted to do an exchange for. I had just run 19 miles in my retired Vasque VST's and I thought maybe I should just buy another pair. I thought about the fact I am doing probably two road marathons and a handful of ultras so should I buy some road shoes or just stick with trail shoes? As I looked through their available shoes, I said to myself, you just ran 19 miles in some worn out trail shoes on a paved bikepath, stick with trails shoes and don't sweat it. Besides, I don't plan to run on roads or paved bikepaths once spring/summer eventually gets here. The only time I will see pavement is during the road marathons.

So I looked through what they had available and read through the various reviews (both on their site and many other internet sites) and narrowed my choice to the VasqueVST's or Vasque Celerators. The VST's with my new 25% off coupon would have been $49, the Celerators $52. I chose the Celerators as they have the same last as the VST's but a different heel (my older VST's had suffered the heel separation problem).

Vasque Celerators

Since I had bought two pairs before I debated getting both of them anyway but I noticed they had some North Face shoes, so after additional research I chose to get a pair of North Face Fire Roads. They were $49 with coupon, so again the total of my purchase would be $101.

North Face Fire Roads

Since I needed to do the exchange, I called them. The person who helped me on the phone was very easy to deal with. We did the exchange, she explained that they would credit the refund back to the account they were purchased on and that they would deduct the $5.75. I should note that some of the on-line shoe places do free shipping both ways but usually their prices are higher so if that bugs you, checkout Backcountry.com, Zappos.com and others. She asked if I had a coupon code, the item numbers for the new shoes, an account to charge against and then she said since it was an exchange the shipping was free and I was done.

The shoes arrived 4 days later and they both fit fine so I am ready for spring to come and to get a lot of miles on them. I don't like dealing with returns anywhere but I did find this an easy process and will continue to shop for shoes at Sierra Trading Post, just make sure you get your coupons, wait for additional discounts (if you can) and you too can get a fairly good deal.