Running Shoes and Wine

This weekend I joined the ranks of many women before me, I bought big girl “running” shoes. It only took two days and 5-8 stores; I can’t say the exact amount because I lost count. E stuck by me through the entire ordeal, but that could be because booze were promised upon completion. I am not above bribery; a girl has to do what a girl has to do.

Saturday we found ourselves at Dick’s, hunting high and low for the right type of shoes for my “running” style. E looked like this while searching every possible corner of the store for my perfect glass slipper…. Er “running shoe”. He’s such a great shoe scout.

I can’t really give him a hard time because I looked like this searching for said “running” shoes. I think Mister Headless Vest guy might be the one, I mean look at those legs! Ow ow!

Needless to say we are two kids with serious ADD and lacking in all things serious. We also found no shoes, I mean they had shoes, but we quickly realized we ( I ) had no clue what type of shoe to even get. I’m the sparkly heel and purple pumps sort of gal. “Running” shoes are way outside my realm of comprehension. So I decided to call in the professionals, they after all had to know more about “running” foot attire than I could try to decipher from my googling adventures between stores. Thus enter, The Running Well Store…

I was very overwhelmed when I walked in, but the staff quickly had me laughing about my “running” insecurities. After making me run on a treadmill while videotaping my legs and playing said video in slow motion, (Horrifying when did my legs start looking like that? Hello self-tanner!) it was time for the fun part… picking out my shoes. I was convinced I wanted a barefoot style shoe, but according to the analysis, I was better off with a little bit more support. Guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t try to figure out my shoe needs solo. See, being a codependent shopper pays off sometimes.

It took about an hour, 6 pairs of shoes and a lot of jogs up and down the sidewalk in front of the store before I decided on a shoe. Speaking of sidewalks, ever jogged up and down one wearing mismatched shoes while talking to yourself about said shoes? No? Well a word to the masses, if you do this people will look at your funny. Weird, I know. I even had one guy ask if I knew my shoes didn’t match. I smiled and told him I had stolen them and in my mad dash didn’t grab a matching pair. He didn’t look amused… I was!

My previous ancient, worn, used and abused “running” shoes.

Then after The Running Well Store waved their magic wand, my “running” shoes look like this

Aren’t they pretty and new and fresh looking… which means I obviously haven’t worn them and they are still sitting in their pretty Brooks box. Le sigh.

Post shoe shopping it was time for booze as promised, I am nothing if not a girl of my word. We headed to one of the many local wineries and wrapped up our Saturday.

After the winery. 

Tonight it’s time to take the pretty new shoe babies out of their box, strap them on my wide feet (wide toe box to be exact) and put a few miles on them. Well maybe not a few, but at least one. AND.. it’s still not exactly “running” I’m still working intervals that involve an equal amount of walking. BUT, I’m getting there. Today should be interesting since I’m sore from…. gardening… that’s right, gardening. I’m getting so old. Who would have thought, tomatoes, cucumbers and garlic could cause my legs and glutes so much pain? Learn something new every day. Veggie injury or not, this girl is hitting the road (sidewalk) tonight.