I bought shoes today. Normal shoes. Well, kind of normal. They will be my every-day-life shoes and walking shoes at the same time. I really needed a pair of shoes. I have been walking in my wedding shoes for over a year. And they were the only pair of shoes I had.
The only pair of normal shoes that is. I am a runner. I have running shoes. To be precise, I now have 6 pairs of running shoes. I even have more shoes than my girlfriend. I think that defines a runner; if you have more running shoes, than your girlfriend/wife has normal shoes. How this works, when you are a girl and run, I don’t know.
6 pairs of running shoes
To be fair I didn’t mean to have 6 pairs of running shoes, it just happened. Although, that’s what Sara says when she buys a new pair of shoes or some new make-up. But in my case it’s true. Of course.
I bought my first pair around Christmas last year. I told you a lot about my flat feet. Well, they are not only very flat, they are also big. Very big. To give you an idea, when I was living in Nicaragua I couldn’t buy shoes there. I had to go to Costa Rica to buy new shoes. Even in Costa Rica the only place I could buy shoes, was a basketball store, because seemingly only basketball players have big feet.
Size 47,5
In case you are curious I have a size 47,5. Last year – think COVID crisis – it was impossible to get shoes in this size. As I desperately wanted to have new running shoes, I got a size 46. It worked, on the road. But downhill, no way. I did one race and ended up with blue toes.
So, just before I went to Italy for the La Scimmia Yoga festival and to race the Dolomiti Extreme Trail I went to a local trail running shop to buy my first serious pair of trail running shoes. The guy didn’t had my size in stock – this happens a lot – but would order a pair. To cut a long story short, they never arrived.
I kept waiting, up until a day before we had to leave. That last day, I drove to a couple of stores in Belgium. Nothing. Well, except for one pair, size 47. Not ideal, but at least it was a step up. So, I raced on these shoes. Perfect grip, not a perfect fit and I ended up with blue toes again.
Long live Brooks
Back from Italy Paul Waye, the ultrarunner and plogger, gave me the tip that Brooks had big sizes again. So I bought a pair of trail running shoes, a pair of road running shoes and, because I loved my trail running shoes so much, I bought a second pair.
And just before buying all these shoes, I bought a pair of barefoot shoes to play with. Barefoot running shoes of course.
Wedding shoes
In the meantime I kept on walking on the only pair of normal shoes I had; my wedding shoes. Nothing fancy, just the Clarks Step Urban. But after using them every day, they are totally worn down by now. So today I did the only thing I could. Buy decent shoes. Normal shoes.
PS: I bought the Adidas Terrex as an everyday shoe. For me, they are horrible shoes. It feels like I’m walking in plastic boxes and they squeeze my little toe. I gave them to a charity shop and bought a pair of black Brooks instead. So much more comfortable.
