New Wheels

Conversation topics that bore me and/or that I tune out:

1. Travel horror stories about plane delays and missed connections exceeding 4 minutes
2. Silly stories about your cat
3. Certain minor “medical conditions” (i.e. rashes, chronic fingernail fungus and attempted remedies; foot pain and the like)
4. Detailed accounts of dreams exceeding 3 minutes. (I like hearing about your dream, especially if I am in it, but please keep the recount snappy)
5. Car talk beyond what kind (including but not limited to traffic patterns, engine issues, etc.)

So since it has been a few weeks since I have blogged, I thought, what better way to re-engage my readers than with an in-depth discussion of #3! Specifically, the medical issues I have with my feet.

My foot problems don’t have to do with odor (well, at least not my biggest problem). I have what the experts on the internet call plantar fasciitis. Basically extreme pain in my heels and my arches.

You have already stopped reading. For the two of you who are still with me, you get gold stars and the secret password to the clubhouse.

Anyway, about five years ago I went to one of those fancy shoe stores that videotape you when you run and diagnose excess pronation issues and whatnot. Blah, blah, blah, they hooked me up with these Mizuno Wave Elixir shoes and that were apparently the right ones for me and my “special” feet. They certainly weren’t my favorite looking shoes, but I put my vanity aside and bought them.

Five years later, I haven’t looked back. My feet don’t hurt anymore and I feel like amillion bucks. They come in one color each season so every time I go to the shoe store I get the current color in my size and hit the streets. I don’t even bother trying them on or looking at the other options. Sometimes they are white and red, other times white and silver-nothing offensive or notable. So whatever this season’s style is, I suck it up and buy the shoe.

Here was my most recent pair. Unremarkable but comfortable.

On Sunday I popped in WestStride for a new pair of the old faithfuls to kick off the walking season. “Another pair of these” I said, pointing down at my feet dressed in the blasé Wave Elixir 5s.

“Sure thing,” he said and went in the back of the store. When he returned and opened the box containing the Wave Elixir 6. I went blind.

I tried them on. Complained for a minute, ogled at the superfly Nikes, and walked out the door in my new pair of neon prescription shoes.

Holy ridiculousness, you can see me coming from a mile away. Not at all what I was going for.

I walked next door to the hardware store where two different people asked me if I had run the Atlanta marathon that morning. These shoes are that intense. (The answer: definitely not. I was just waking up and contemplating my breakfast options when those go-getters were on mile 26). Yesterday two people commented on the shoes at the gas station and the checkout girl at the grocery store asked me if I had just gone on a run. It’s like people look at my feet and just feel obligated to say something. Anything. People don’t quite know how to respond to the day-glo blindness before them.

On the bright* side, if the kidnappers leave me for dead one fateful night deep in the woods, the search team will be able to find me.

624 words about my new running shoes. *And a pun.

Guess who’s back!

((Life is happening. Stay tuned…))