Shoes!

So I went for professional help. I stopped at Boulder Running Company after work today, and they had me try on a pair of shoes, then walk on a treadmill. They recorded my feet as I awkwardly walked/ran in place. Then they played the video back and showed me how bad it was. Apparently I wasn't paying attention in walking class, cause I failed!

Apparently, my left foot pronates when I walk (don't ask what that means) and because of that, the only shoes I should be wearing belong in a movie starring Tom Hanks. If left with no attention, this pronation can lead to foot pain as well as knee pain, shin splints, achilles tendinitis, posterior tibial tendinitis, Piriformis syndrome, plantar fasciitis, and fatal halitosis.

After we were done watching the horror flicks, I tried on a series of shoes (a different one on each foot) until I found one that felt the best. Once I narrowed it down to two shoes, I tried on the same of each, and ran outside the store a bit on each.

Ultimately I ended up liking the feel of Saucony shoes the best. The salesman that did the analysis and subsequent shoe parade said "Well great! I buy nothing but Saucony shoes myself!" and headed to the counter while telling me about the origins of the company. (founded in 1898, made the boots worn by the first American astronaut to walk in space)

Before he made it to the counter I asked the question. "So, whats the price on these?"
He paused, and almost looked like I had hurt his feelings.
I think to myself, yikes! This is gonna hurt...
He launches into an explanation about how all the shoes are all in the same price range,
oh no, he's building up for something really bad
and how they have a great 30 day return policy
mommeeeeeeee
and then drops it. "They are $110 dollars."

Ouch! I told him I wanted to look around the store a bit, which is kind of funny cause you can see everything in the store within 30 seconds of walking in, but I needed time to stall. I looked at the pricetags on all the other shoes, and sure enough, they were all around $100. There were a pair of $80 shoes lurking in the corner, but they were all black and looked like something that Darth Vader might jog in.

I started reasoning with myself that maybe if I shell out the bucks now, I'll be more motivated to actually follow through with running, and my friend paid the registration fee for the 5k, and good shoes are important if I dont want to injure myself, and my dog ate my homework.

I bought them. I think he felt bad for me when he saw the pained look on my face. He told me about a running club in town that gets together every Tuesday night and runs 3 miles. Afterward they serve free spaghetti and cheap beer. He probably thought I needed a drink.

So now I'm at home with a pretty ugly pair of shoes that cost me more than the wardrobe that I normally wear in a week. That sounds pretty pitiful, but I normally pride myself on finding amazing deals on clothes. The shoes I wore to work today cost $5.00. That's right, I could have bought 20 pair of shoes at that ratio.

In any case, now I have no excuse! Maybe after the boys go to bed, I'll take a nice brisk walk around my neighborhood and see if I can still feel the pain where my money used to be.