New Shoes For The Marathon

Yeah, I know what you're saying. You're saying, "Lance, you gotta be nuts to wear new shoes in the marathon - that's as big a mistake as starting too fast, or using gels when you've never tried them in a training run". Let me explain.

I bought two pairs of my favorite shoes (training and racing) at the end of last summer - Addidas Ozweego. I thought they'd last me through the winter. I put 400 miles on one pair but had to rotate in the other pair because of some soggy days on the routes. The second pair is sitting at a little over 200 miles. I still run in the 400 mile pair, but obviously they're a little high on milage for a race. I wore the 200 mile pair for the Rockets Run 5K Sunday but their spring has sprung, if you know what I mean. The combination of soggy runs and too many cycles in the washer has aged them prematurely - like drinkin' and smokin'. I had asked for gift cards to Sports Authority for Christmas but got only one, from my sister. I didn't see any sales between Christmas and now, but went there on Tuesday anyway, hoping to get lucky. I found an Addidas model that I wasn't familiar with, the Supernova, which was on sale for $59.95. I bought a pair and wore them for that 4.4 I did last night. My wife asked me this morning how they were and my response summed it up - "they'll do". She said, "you don't want to wear a pair that'll 'do'." She was right. The shoes were adequate, but not like the Ozweegos.

So today at lunch I went to Famous Footwear, hoping against hope that they'd have Addidas Ozweegos on sale (we're on a budget with a new baby last October). With fingers crossed I entered the store and headed for the running shoes. Well whattaya know - Addidas Ozweegos on sale - $39.99. Found a pair of nines and plunked down my cash, with a smile on my face. The only drawback is that they come in two colors - royal blue or burnt orange. With me being an Aggie guess what color the only pair of 9s were? You got it. I'll probably break out in a rash!