Sunday, September 18, 2005

New Shoes

Every runner I know dislikes new shoes. There's something about the pristine white condition of the shoe that irks the heck out of us. White shoes are a sign of a poser. Someone who doesn't go out there and rough it out.

Every runner I know dislikes new shoes. It's like having to make a new friend. It's awkward and uncomfortable and you don't know how it'll treat you. There's a period of trial while either it hurts you, or you hurt it. On the very lucky occasion, both go away unscathed and become the best of friends.

So this morning was the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope on Sentosa Island. It was the perfect morning to sleep in. Huge storm, gail like winds. But we decided to go anyway and it cleared sufficiently for us to run. We'd signed up for the 8km run with various types of gradients round Sentosa but they cancelled that one on account of the run making the roads slippery and dangerous. So we improvised and created our own routes.

The good thing about the weather was that it created huge puddles and muddy, soggy grass patches that I had to splash through to cut ahead. So that took care of the new shoes that looked too obscenely clean. I actually tried to get a dog to put its paws on it yesterday, but the dog was too polite.

The not so good thing, breaking in a pair of shoes on a longer, faster run is really not a good idea. And yes, running shoes DO need to be broken into! I have a big blister now on the inner part of my biggest toe and it's tender to walk on.

The conclusion is that the shoes have been suitably broken into. They've been dirtied enough for me not to look like a poseur and I think I'll like my purple new friends just well enough.

Ondine tossed this thought in at 14:11

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