Gout & HM preparation don't go together!

A couple of days after my first blister filled run with the Beasts I woke up with a very sore right big toe and it was diagnosed as gout! Hooray!! At this point I was 3 or so weeks out from the half and had just finished a 56k week and had one more solid week scheduled before a 2 week taper. Not happy Jan. The doc dosed me up with antibiotics and anti inflammatories, which took a couple of days to work but certainly made a difference. I have to say it was fairly uncomfortable and not something I want to get repeatedly if I can avoid it. I undertsand now why many people say it is one of the most painful ailments you can experience. Anyway that put a serious dent in the training with no exercise at all for 8 days.
So my last week of solid training which I felt I really needed didn't happen, I had bloody great blisters on both feet, and gout on my rh big toe, tennis anyone? At this point I resigned myself to going into the HM underdone and modified my goal to one of just completing it instead of aiming for a specific time. I was also about to go to Victoria for a weeks holiday with the family and was concerned about the Beasts. I just didn't feel great in them, they felt heavy and were clearly rubbing on the midsole area, causing those blisters! It's probably strange to say they felt heavy, when I myself am still 20kg overweight, but they just did. So I decided to go back into Jogger's World and seek further advice.
They put me on the treadmill and video'd my gait and it was clear I was a reasonable pronator and needed decent midsole support so the Beasts weren't a bad choice. However 'in between' those and the Kayano's were the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6, still offering greater support than the Asics, but more cushioning than the Beasts. They were one of the pairs I had under consideration initially but gone for the Beasts for max support to aim to correct my foot problems. I probably should have gone for a more middle of the road option but acted on the advice given and chose the Beasts. Long story short the Adrenaline felt really good on, even more comfortable than a new pair of kayano's, and I really wanted to be comfortable leading up to and during the half, so I bought a pair.
So now had spent double the planned cost but reasoned that I should now get better value out of each pair as I could alternate them and get longer life out of both as 'resting' each of them gives the material a chance to rebound and gives greater durability. I now hoped that I had a comfortable pair of shoes to break in over a 2 week taper and run the big one in.