I've always bought cheap shoes to run in and they were always multi-use shoes, i.e. I also used them for just going out and about. But as I've gotten more into running I've decided that my running shoes will only be used for running, that way I could monitor the thread wear to see how my feet were landing. However, the problem is that a lot of times my soles fall off before they wear out, my current shoes, which are my first dedicated running shoes have a lateral split across the sole, about where the ball of the foot is.
These shoes are less than a year old, but I don't know how many miles are on them. I'm curious if any runners track the number of miles they put on their shoes and know about how long they last?
I'm wondering this, because I'm curious if it would be cost effective to buy an expensive pair of running shoes or just keep buying the cheapos that I've always bought.
BTW, this is basically what I have now; I'm still running in them, because the split across the sole doesn't seem to effect my running. http://www.ebay.com/itm/MENS-TREDZ-R...60891883019%26
I've even, once in a while, run in my "retired" running shoes, which have completely lost the tread (came unglued and fell off) and they seem fine to run in, so maybe I need to rethink when I retire my shoes.
P.S. I run mostly on pavement (always barefoot on the beach), but I think if I were to run on trails I'd see the same problems, since it mostly has nothing to do with tread wear.