Marathon Shoe Dilemma

So the latest go-LIVE went so well that I got to come home a day early. Yeah! Except not really because my flights were so delayed that I didn't get home until 3 am. But I did at least get moved from a middle seat to an extra leg room window on my first flight and a first class upgrade on my second flight. I asked for some red wine and I got a whole solo cup that was about overflowing. That mellowed me right out.

So this morning I didn't drag myself out of bed until 10, and then I couldn't manage to get myself out the door to run until 11. I had been planning to go to the gym since I ran the past 3 days, and I am supposed to be tapering, but when I saw this I just couldn't resist.

 
Since it was bright daylight and I was very leisurely in my run prep I actually looked at my sneakers before I put them on. Um holy grossness. First of all they stink. Like smell them across the room stink. And they are nasty looking too. They've been through a winter of marathon training in snow, sleet, slush and mud. They aren't too sound structurally either,  the sole is completely worn down in places (pronate much Kiersten?), the padding in the heels is all lumped up weirdly, and the corners of the toebox are ripping. No wonder my feet have not been happy lately.

Time for new shoes. Except wait, I'm running a marathon in a week. And the cardinal rule of racing is nothing new. So what do I do?? I had a new pair of Brooks sitting in my closet waiting, so I decided to pull them out and give them a try this weekend. I slipped in my orthotics and off I went. They felt wonderful, no rubbing or blisters at all. Just a nice cushioned ride. The only issue is that they were so nice and white and shiny that I didn't want to get them dirty. Not easy to do on a warm spring day in Maine, there were a lot of giant puddles and mud. I seriously added an extra .4 miles to my normal run because I was trying to avoid puddles. And I got in some agility work too because I did a lot of fast feet high knees trying to make as little contact as possible with the mud.

So now I have a dilemma. Bring the worn out shoes that I trained in? Or bring the new shoes?