Sure questions like these have been asked hundreds of times on this forum but I am going to buy my first bike that serves more of a purpose of biking into downtown.

I started running over a year or so ago, just ran my first half marathon and felt some pain in my knee towards my last month of training. I also, unless perfectly socked, crush and callus and blister my pinky toes. I want to get a bike that can intermix some cycling into my training so I am not always running to keep my fitness levels up for the random 5k/10k/or maybe even half marathon. I guess bike 40 miles on some training days (once I can get to this point ).

Also, I live about 8 miles from work and would like to use this bike at least once, hopefully more times a week to get there. (That's where the commuter part comes in)

There are three bike speciality stores in town and they carry brand specific. I went to the Trek store and they go up to a 7.3 or 7.2, They say the 7.6 will only get awesome-r... but that I'd have to be dedicated to order it (money-down), probably none around to test drive.

I am going to check out the other two stores to hopefully get a chance to ride the others.

Any advice? What do owners of the particular bikes love about their bike/make that choice/anything left to desire on your purchase?

Thanks in advance!