But in fairness, how long do a pair of cycling shoes last? I have pairs that are 20 years old I still use and realistically should never need to buy another pair in my lifetime.

That said, its funny when people who ride $5000 bikes and spend $500 or $1000 a year to access a pool cry foul about a $250 pair of racing shoes. I got a pair of 4% back in 2018, as soon as they were available, didn't even think about the price, thought about how I was dropping 15 seconds off my 5K using my credit card.

And as far as maximalist running. I'm 45 and haven't done a run longer than 9 miles since Boston in 2018 and almost no speed work either. Had been averaging just over 20 miles a week for a few months and decided I wanted a double digit (10 mile run) in the books for this year and what the heck, I would try to run it hard. Went out yesterday and ran a 1:04:30 (6:27 pace) in my 4%s which isn't that impressive, but what is impressive is my legs feel pretty damn good today and I was able to jog an easy 3 miles this morning. Even 10 years ago, if i did a hard 10 mile race (granted I was running quite a bit faster) in racing shoes I'd be hobbling around for a couple of days. So this result 10 years later, its all the shoes.