It doesn’t matter where you come from… Shoes! A universally understood female language. A language I never really understood, until now it seems. This was mainly because I have man-sized feet, pretty and narrow but man-sized nonetheless. I’m the kind of girl who has 3 or 4 pairs of multifunctional shoes that I wear until they are dead, because it’s hard to find shoes to fit me, so I’ve never been able to get excited about them and sure as hell was never at risk of amassing an expensive collection.
Until now that is…
Less than two years ago I didn’t own running shoes of any kind, now I own three pairs (four if you include the original impulse purchase that I can’t actually run in, but I’m about to hand those over to a newbie runner in need, so we’ll stick with three for discussion purposes)
We all remember how I got my Adidas when ‘The Boyfriend’ won a shoe voucher at the Spur Trail Series last year (and gave it to me because he’s the BEST boyfriend in the World) and I got such wonderful service from these guys.
Fast forward to November 2015 (yes yes I know it’s taken me forever to write about this… Christmas, laziness, writer’s block, blah blah…) and a new Specialist Running store was about to open called RUN. They posted a Facebook competition to work up a bit of hype and get their name out there. They were giving away a pair of Saucony’s, I’d had my morning coffee and was feeling up to the challenge so I entered. The brief? What does RUN mean to you? I was the first to respond and nobody managed to knock my answer off the epic scale… So I won! Yay!
I went into the store when they had only just opened, the poor guys were still dealing with building snags and dust. I arrived an hour before closing and left almost an hour after they should have locked up. When Grant sent me this he wasn’t kidding
They literally tried every possible shoe on me. Obviously they fitted and tested the Saucony’s first, but it was clear from the start that they weren’t the shoe for me 😦
Grant and Erin spent almost 2hrs focusing all their attention on me and on making sure I left with the perfect pair.
After many a fitting and many a spin on the treadmill, it came down to these two
I tried really hard to get them to make the choice for me, but Grant was happy for me to take either. I knew I could run in Adidas, they worked for my feet, so they were an easy pick. However, as Grant said, how often do you get to test a new brand for free? So decision made, I left with the Asics… Nothing to lose right?
And I luuuurve them! Thank you guys!
So practically drowning in free road shoes, I decided it was time to put a bit of that Christmas bonus to good use and treat myself to a pair of Trail shoes…
I started doing research and was seriously considering a pair of Salomons, I’d even contacted Grant at RUN and he had agreed to track down the style and size I was looking for (that’s how awesome they are over there, go pay them a visit!). But then I headed off to this year’s Spur Trail Series and BAM! I found my shoes! They had a small selection of Adidas trail shoes on sale and not only did they have a pair in my size, they were a women’s size9! Not a men’s, (story of my life!) an actual pair of women’s shoes…. That FIT ME!!! I could hear the Angels singing as I put them on. But I was aware of my impulsive tendencies, so I asked them to keep them aside until after the race and decided to mull it over and take ‘The Boyfriend’ past the merchandise tent afterwards to get his opinion. He wasn’t sure, until I called Sean over (he reviews shoes for Modern Athlete Magazine, so he knows his stuff) and he not only gave them a rave review, he attempted to buy them, I practically had to beat him off with a stick when he realised I was holding the last pair 🙂 so with ‘The Boyfriend’ now thoroughly convinced too, I could trust my urge to hand over my credit card.
Aren’t they lovely?
So now I can run downhill with less fear of falling on my bum!
Shoes!!!
Turns out I have the girly shoe gene after all, it has just been hiding in the running shoe aisle for the last 36yrs. Who knew?!
Happy Running Folks!
Diary of an Unfit 'Runner' 