Chicken Noodle Soup For the Sole

I must tell you, several days ago, it was that time of the month...

TO GET NEW RUNNING SHOES!

With the mileage I put on my shoes, I was overdue for another shoe purchase to rotate into my collection of running footwear. Unfortunately, shoe-shopping is an activity I have long dreaded, as I have a great aversion to shoe salespeople. No offense if you are one, but honestly, I like to peruse and deliberate my weighty shoe decisions alone and uninterrupted. Thankfully, however, I was able to (as quickly as was humanly possible) find a third pair of the same running shoes that have served me well over the past months. These Nike Zoom Elite+ shoes have been ever-faithful to my feet, who are so grateful for the firm, yet comfortable, ride these shoes provide on every run.

I knew it was time to switch my running shoes because my handy dandy Runner's World Training Log told me so. But you know it's time to rotate your running shoes when they look like this:

These are the first known running shoes, dating back about 10,000 years ago. For the record, they're on display at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon.

Unfortunately, the owner of these shoes probably put a lot more mileage on them than today's podiatrists would recommend! This person obviously didn't have access to modern sports stores, where he or she might have been delighted to find a myriad of footwear options to comfort their presumably weary, calloused feet. And, if I were a guessing person, I'd venture to say he/she had neither the luxury of comfort nor the means of fashioning a sock-like apparatus to protect their feet against what appears to be a texture resembling that of sandpaper (sagebrush bark, to be exact). If only I had a time machine, perhaps I'd go back and hand the poor guy/girl a blister band-aid!

So let this be a quick reminder, runners, we're not living in the dark ages. Replace your shoes every 300-400 miles, because, unlike the faceless owner of the ancient "shoes" above, you have access to those wonderful sports outlet stores like Sport's Authority and Scheel's. Take care of your feet so as to avoid injury!

Personally, a blister (which, as I mentioned early, can be soothed by a blister band-aid) as a result of a new pair of shoes is a bullet I'd be willing to take to avoid an injury that could put me out of commission for weeks. This is probably the only time in my life I will be recommending this, but people, take the bullet! Next time you think about walking by the shoe section empty-handed (as I so often do), think of our 10,000-year-old fellow runner who would have (literally) loved to walk a mile in your shoes.