Achievement Unlocked - New Shoes Acquired!

This week I was discussing my workouts with a friend, and I mentioned that I was getting a new pair of Keds to wear on the elliptical.  My friend, who is a pretty serious runner (she ran the Chicago marathon last year and would have run New York but for Hurricane Sandy), was appalled.  "You can't wear Keds on the elliptical," she said, "you'll turn an ankle, and then where will you be?".

Now I am not what you call fussy about my shoes.  I never have been one of those people who has closets full of shoes for every outfit, and I loathe shoe shopping.  As long as the shoes even halfway fit, I'll wear 'em.  Case in point: my workout shoes.  I have been wearing the same sneakers since I started workout out last January, and in fact, these are the same shoes that I wore the first time I lost weight, back in 1999-2000.   They're not fancy, or even structurally sound, but they are easy to put on and off, and they fit my feet, which is something not all shoes can boast.


I will admit, the sneakers have seen better days.  To be fair, they've probably seen better decades. Words will not do them justice, so here are said sneakers, in all their glory:

Yes, that is a giant hole in the side of one of them (rest assured, there's a matching hole in its mate).  Those are also holes all along the back of both sneakers.  Arch support?  Not in these shoes.  Treads?  Heck no!  The bottom of these shoes is polished almost smooth.  For some reason, my runner friend with the wardrobe of technical clothing and super-fancy arch support shoes felt that these shoes were inappropriate for my increasing levels of fitness. 

Upon consideration, I thought perhaps she was right.  I am a mature woman who works out for at least 60 minutes a day, so why shouldn't I have shoes that assist in that endeavour?  So last night I bit the bullet and went to the new Running Room store that opened up on Yonge just north of Wellington.  The store is basically directly between my office and my apartment, so there really was no reason not to stop in. 

And...I bought some shoes.  Here they are, in all their neon glory:

I used them last night for my evening elliptical workout, and this morning for my usual Friday workout, and you know what?  They felt fine.  The shoes were springy and comfortable, and I actually felt a little bouncier on the elliptical.  I'm not saying that the 60 minutes on the elliptical went any faster, but my feet were comfortable, and my toes weren't squished like they sometimes were in the old sneakers. 

So my trusted old sneakers have now gone under the bathroom cabinet, until I can bear to throw them out, and the new sneakers - excuse me - running shoes - have a place of honour in my bedroom.

Let the new era begin!  Apparently I will need to get new shoes every 500 miles (another new fact I discovered this week), so we'll see how long these neon things will take me.