was a pair of my favorite shoes but the fact that both shoes had their heels worn inside where your achilles tendon will be in a few months. Without that pad, whenever I was there it was nothing short of a bubble city, which unfortunately is the case now, only knowing I don't really plan on running much. I've bought about 8 pairs of NB's in the last year and a half alone and these have easily been my favorites (247, 009 and 574 Sport, deconstructed between mesh styles). I've since bought a few pairs of Adidas and it's going to be hard to justify getting another NB unless they can do something as a warranty defective product. I walk a lot every day, it's not like I'm Forrest Gump or anything, and I haven't been sloppy with them in any way.