The New Threat


“This feels like I’m cheating,” I told B while sitting in the Gazelle Sports parking lot. On my feet were my trusty black Brooks running shoes; in a box on the backseat were my new hot pink Nike LunarGlide 4’s.

Getting new running shoes is scary; switching brands is traumatic. I’m confident in my Brooks—both in their ability to get me through a long run and their predictability in blistering locations. How am I to know these Nikes won’t disintegrate mid-run or explode shattering my foot bones in the process? They have proven nothing.

I’m deep in the throes of training, where just about everything (often including rational thinking) but running has been shelved until late May. Things so far have been going well. I’ve been staying on schedule, stretching, strength training, foam rolling, yogaing and holding small séances to honor the running gods. And while the majority of my runs have been good runs, I’m afraid of unknown factors that may make one anything but.

It’s with that, that I’ve been cautiously testing out my new shoes this week. So what that they don’t squeeze my baby toe into a headlock or weigh a million pounds like my Brooks; if these newbs even look up at me from the shoe bin in my closet funny, I will return them. Do you hear me, Nikes? I will return you.

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