Shoes

I used to get excited about buying shoes. Recently though, I've been more hesitant to spend the money. I have enough of them, so I don't really need anymore. I think one of the reasons I also don't like to spend money on shoes is because my husband and I do the Dave Ramsey program. I would rather have my money last a little bit longer and shoes (and clothes really) tend to make that money disappear. And once the envelope is empty, there are no more opportunities to buy pretty things.

Since I've decided to run the Women's Half Marathon in Nashville on September 22 (a mere 143 days from today) I realized that I needed to get a new pair of running shoes. I have a pair of first generation Nike LunarGlides that I really like, so I thought about ordering another pair of them from Amazon. Then I thought I would want to try them on before I bought them so I headed down to my local running store, Runner's Market. They only had the LunarGlides in a 10.5 and the other store in town didn't have an 11 either. See - in a street shoe I'm good in a 10. But I'm so afraid of getting black toenails and whatnot that I prefer an 11. There is plenty of space in the toe box for my cute little tootsies to wiggle around and I don't have to worry about ending up with this (these are not my feet, btw):

Source

So after trying on 4 or 5 different pairs of shoes, I settled on a pair of Asics. Now see, I always thought Asics were the cheap-o shoes, and they never felt good on my feet. Well - when you get running shoes that fit and have a glorious gel cushion in them (that your year-old Nike's no longer have) your mind gets changed. I tried on Saucony, Brooks, Nike, Asics. It was actually a really difficult decision to make. I settled on the Asics Landreth. They are $15 less on Amazon than they are in the store. And in the lovely state of TN we have a 9.25% sales tax. So I thought, well, I could save $15, not pay tax, and get free shipping. Then I thought about the nice young man who had to help me on a busy Saturday in the store and I decided to purchase those shoes from my local running store.

Now - I have to add this because it is the only reason that I have these shoes now. After I decided I wanted to purchase the shoes I came home and posted this to Facebook:

 

The key words in my post are "when I have the money." My 30th birthday is coming up in July and my dad (that's Daniel Russell) decided that he wanted to be dad of the year and get me my sneakers as an early birthday gift. So yesterday I got my check in the mail and today at work I cashed it. Then at 5:20 I walked into my local running store and at 5:30 I walked out as the owner of a brand new pair of running shoes. The guy who helped me today (the brother of the other guy who helped me) did say that I'll more than likely need to get another pair in 3 months, but this gives me time to save up and get the next pair when I've got the money! 

Here's two more photos: 

The note that my dad sent with my check that made my day! 

Me modeling my new (and oh so comfy) new running shoes before we head off to the Greenway.

 I really wrote this post for my dad. I wanted to tell the world that he's great and without him, I'd be running in year-old kicks. Because of him I'm going to enjoy my training more. Thanks, dad. I truly appreciate this.