snappy shoe gear

i think my last post title was happy new year, but i couldn't think of anything else, so there's a little rhyme for you. i did, actually, go a bit berserk on sunday due to some unnamed unhappiness and went out and bought new running shoes:



for all of that running that i've been doing lately (smirk). seriously, tho, i think my knee cartilage has healed up nicely (thanks, 2-a-day-glucosamine horsepills!) so i'm ready to alternate the old-people low-impact activity of walking with some interspersed running.

these shoes, let me tell you, nike has been a busy busy little company. i haven't worn nike for probably a decade, but the technology and innovation they spend their little dimes on is pretty impressive. there is this little chip you can buy that goes into the sole of your shoe (any nike shoe with a + sign has this built in, or i've read online how you can DIY a non-nike or non-+ pair to do the same) which links to a little ipod plugin add-on. basically, the chip in your shoe interacts with the plugin device and your ipod stores all this info on your workout - distance, calories burned, etc. you can create workout programs, supposedly, or listen to yourself run, whatever that means. anyway, the salesgirl at nordstrom showed it to me, and i was mightily impressed. still cheap and unemployed (so it stayed on the display), but impressed nonetheless.

here's a photo of the kit if you're curious:






i was having some buyer's remorse for purchasing new full-price anything in this crazy time of serious markdowns, but that is why i shop at nordstrom. they're nice and they take shit back if i change my mind or dislike the item after i've used it. trevor is encouraging me to keep them, plus the clothes i bought on super markdown. i think he's so relieved that my unnamed unhappinesses can be soothed at the local mall that he thinks a bit of shopping is a small price to pay for girlfriend happiness. also, since my birthday is coming down the pipes, i can always tap into that "you just bought me new running shoes" option. right?

aside from the little shoe chip, i was shopping for the most stable shoe i could find. i've been getting weird connective tissue weakness on either side of my ankles a day or so after running, so i guess if these super-stable shoes don't help, i can take them back. isn't it funny the way our bodies break down once we hit 30? ok, i might be speaking for myself, but i hate to see what kind of shape my joints and tendons are in when i'm 70. i think the glucosamine horsepills are here to stay, sadly.