It’s recommended that you change your running shoes every 500 miles. I’ve pushed my luck through more than 600 miles and a marathon in my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9s, so when I was in Seattle recently and saw the GTS 10s costing significantly less than they do in the UK, it was just the hint I needed to get my credit card out of my pocket and give my feet a treat.

As all runners should know, you should never wear anything on race-day that you haven’t thoroughly worn in first. (In fact it’s number 1 on my top tips for first-time marathoners – that’s how important it is.) So for the past couple of weeks I’ve been giving my new shoes a bit of a foot-bashing ready for my upcoming half-marathon.

Looking at the picture of my old and new shoes side by side, the old fellas don’t look in too bad a shape. But wearing one of each told a different story. My right foot fitted a lot snugger in the new shoe – I could feel all the cushioning has been bashed out of the old shoe.

It was a sad day when I had to retire my GTS 9s. They were the shoes I wore for my first marathon and half-marathon, we’ve come a long way together but the journey ends now. But what should I do with them now? I can’t throw them away. Most of my old shoes go to the charity shop, but these are no use to anyone and I couldn’t handle the guilt of giving someone else achilles tendonitis from the lack of support they now have. Would it be weird to keep them as a momento? Afterall, I have the medal for that.