no sneakers for you
Since I started running again I have focused on running as much as I possibly can; and since moving from Melbourne I had to ditch my old pair of Nike Free shoes (that is a long story in itself), but anyway those shoes that I purchased in Thailand had a great fit, were extremely light, and therefore were perfect for travel; alas they were left in Melbourne - so I have been running in totally inappropriate foot wear which has been killing my heels since they have no shock absorption whatsoever.
Now for the last 5 times out around NYC I have stopped into Foot Locker, Foot Action, Macy’s, Sneaker this or that, and basically looked for a running shoe that looks worthy of the price and quality. And as much as I like the fashionable and cool casual running shoes that Puma and Adidas come out with, I still find that you really can’t beat a Nike for comfort and long term fit. An old pair of Asics that I bought in 2001 and still had until 2007 were of that sort of quality where I don’t mind dropping $100 down because I know that I will enjoy the shoes enough to reap the benefits. Am I cheap? I wouldn’t say so, it just that I have seen people (ladies and men) walking around with shoes that clearly don’t feel comfortable - limping along for some reason or another, and I realized that if you are going to drop some cash, at least get what you want. I would pay $200 for a pair of shoes if they were 4x better than the average sneaker (which is approx $50 USD).
Today we were walking on 14th street near the bottom of Union Square when we stumbled upon a “mega sale” at a shoe/sneaker store that had some decent Nike’s in the window; before we went in I popped our son out of the front carrier that I was wearing and gave him to my wife and then walked inside. There were quite realistically about 10 sales people in the store all taking orders, they were wired with mics to call orders down to the stock room(s) and they came and asked if I needed any help. I asked for a size in some various Nike styles and then they disappeared for some 10 minutes while I looked around aimlessly and then multiple times the same staff member kept asking me multiple times about the size I was looking for and which style. I then told the staff that I was leaving in two minutes if they didn’t find the shoes or at least tell me that they do not have the size/style in stock because my wife and son are outside waiting because the sound in the store is too loud. In two minutes he came back to me and said they were now searching in another stock room, whereas previously he told me 3 times that they found the shoe and it was coming up. I promptly told them, no thanks - I can’t wait any longer. This now makes the 6th time I went looking for a sneaker and came back empty handed. I think the next step is to find the sneaker on the web and order online; bypassing the excitement of the brick and mortar.
Originally published on truman.net. See the archived copy.