Climbing Hills and Shoe Issues

Wow I thought it was cold yesterday. Granted yesterday I waited until 4 pm to venture out on my 8.5 mile run. Today it was a brisk 37 degrees (or so my car said) when we started our journey to the parking garages. I felt a small pain on the side of my knee after my run yesterday which made me a bit nervous. I have been neglecting my weight training and I am worried that my IT band may be complaining because of this (and a few extra miles per week). I iced the knee and felt better today. This will be my last hard workout before the weekend looong run. I was informed today that the first garage we run is about a half mile all the way up which we covered in a little over three minutes. I thought that was pretty good. I would like to aim for this pace on all of my hill repeats. I have some really strong runners pushing me so I think it is possible. We made our way back to the park after our hill climb and finished with a fast 800 meter pickup. So much fun....actually it was!

Shoes are a concern for me right now. For the last 2.5 years I have run in the New Balance 833. I am on my last pair and these have been the best shoes ever. It took me forever to find them so when I found out they were going extinct I stock piled whatever I could find on the internet. I fear I will need a new pair before the Houston marathon. My dilemma is should I wait it out and hope they last or just go to the new model and hope they don't screw anything up. My shoes usually last me 5 months or so (these are 2 months old) but with the higher mileage I am sure they are on the edge. I admit I have never been very methodical about shoes and how long they last. Usually I just wear them until my knees start to complain and then I break out a new pair and things are good. Maybe I should just wait it out and hope for the best...