Day 29

On Monday. I decided it was time for a change.

The Hokas were not working, my Yeezys were falling apart (and had become so politically toxic I couldn’t wear them in public no matter how amazingly comfortable they were), and my Saucony and Brooks runners were just worn out.

Mindful that, as a heavy runner, one of my major vulnerabilities was putting too much stress on my feet, I decided to go to Fleet Feet for some expert advice.

I like specialty shops over the big box stores because the salespeople are more knowledgeable about what they’re selling, whether cookware or books or shoes, and I’d been to Fleet Feet many times during my running years.

I went to the store on Greenbriar, where an older guy with a serious beard took care of me. He explained that my problem with the Hokas was a design flaw - my foot was too far down in the shoe, causing an irritating contact with my arch. He suggested a new insole might help.

We looked at three pairs of shoes, and I settled on the New Balance Fresh Foam X v4 in size 14. These are HUGE shoes:

When I showed them to Art and my friend B, they gasped at how big they were.

“The sole alone is as thick as my entire shoe,” Art said. 

B told him to be nice. “If his feet were my size, he would fall over. He needs a broad base.”

She was right. I’m like an SUV that needs wide performance tires to support a ridiculously wide chassis.

Art has been dictating whole body exercises for us lately. Today’s exercises included medicine ball squats, push-ups, sled sprints, weighted stair climbs and chest flies. I don’t feel much like doing a second round of exercise after an hour of that.

But once again, Josh came to the rescue. When he got home, we had the dinner discussion and, out of the blue, he said he wanted a salad.  A salad!  From the boy who loves steak.

So I put one together - fresh romaine, green pepper, tomato, croutons and Parmesan cheese with a light balsamic dressing and rotisserie chicken. And I felt so virtuous that I had to walk.

On went the Fresh Foam X shoes and away I went. And the experience was sublime. Pure cushion, like walking on marshmallows.

The five miles were not easy, but my feet were fine, and I did a sub-16 mile average. When I got home, I had a smoothie and watched the Georgia returns come in. An all-around good night.