Well, I'm officially, madly, intensely, laugh-out-loud in love. We only met on Friday afternoon, and this morning, we had a three and a half hour, 19-mile date to the top of Mt. Wilson and back. I woke up this morning well before dawn, gently kissed my sleeping wife goodbye, and ran off with my new lovers. Well, to put it more accurately, I ran with my new lovers on.
I have spent years looking for a truly lightweight trail-running shoe. I've dreamed and dreamed about a racing flat that can handle the dirt. I don't like to wear a shoe that weighs more than eleven ounces, and I am fortunate enough that my body can easily handle a light shoe that doesn't offer a lot of cushioning or motion control. I've spent years destroying my regular road shoes by taking them up in the mountains, through streams, over rocks. I'm lucky if they last 250 miles in the backcountry, which meant a new pair of trainers every six weeks. That gets expensive. But I refused to wear the big, clunky, trail shoes. They felt like combat boots. So, I wasted money and fantasized about the perfect fit.
At last, at last, I've found the absolutely perfect shoe. Ask anyone who runs seriously; the search for the dream shoe is an endless one (largely because manufacturers tend to discontinue one's favorites every few years). I wouldn't accept advertising on this blog from most sources, but if Asics wants to advertise their gorgeous, perfect, incredibly sexy Gel Trail Attack IIs here at my eponymous site, I'll let 'em do it for free. (Yes, orange and blue shoes are sexy. Ask my family and friends who went to the University of Virginia.) In a decade or so of serious running, I have worn many brands and models, but I have never instantly bonded with a shoe as I have with the Trail Attacks. I know that love at first sight isn't supposed to happen to old married guys, but it has happened to me and I am deliriously happy.
I took four minutes off my best time, round trip, this morning. Some of that credit goes to the training, some to the footwear.
If my wife would let me wear my new shoes to bed, I would. Well, maybe not, but I'll let them rest right beneath my bedside table where I can gaze at them fondly and pat them lovingly when she's not looking.
Hugo, please promise us you won't jump up and down on the sofa with these on :)
Posted by: Ed | September 10, 2006 at 01:51 PM
Ed, if Oprah lets me near her couch, I'm leaving tread marks all over.
Posted by: Hugo | September 10, 2006 at 02:11 PM
You're weird to be in love with running shoes, Dr. Schwyzer! Seriously, don't delete this, but the only thing that weighs that little that I am in love with is my vibrator! Haha, but it's true!
Posted by: Fan | September 10, 2006 at 03:24 PM
Buy them in bulk before they disappear! I once had some running shoes that I loved almost that much, but failed to consider that the model might not be around when I needed to replace them. Buy lots. Consider it an investment. But do not, under any circumstance, allow your wife to open that closet door....
Posted by: Ann | September 11, 2006 at 06:52 AM
Wear 'em to school!
Posted by: Mermade | September 11, 2006 at 06:58 AM
Fan, pleasure and delight come from many sources. Yours, howver, requires batteries. Mine doesn't.
Ann, I have often done just that, stocked up on shoes before they went away. Asics used to make a wonderful shoe: the Gel Lyte. I was heartbroken when it was discontinued.
Mermade, given the extraordinary sexiness of these shoes, I would not want to distract my students and "cause them to stumble." Really, it's an act of kindness on my part.
Posted by: Hugo | September 11, 2006 at 08:56 AM
"Fan, pleasure and delight come from many sources. Yours, howver, requires batteries. Mine doesn't"
You win. But I still would rather have my toy than yours.
Mermade, given the extraordinary sexiness of these shoes, I would not want to distract my students and "cause them to stumble.
Hugo, no one looks at your shoes. You don't want to be a distraction, dress less sexy.
Posted by: Fan | September 11, 2006 at 10:32 PM
I think lots of people look at my shoes.
Posted by: Hugo | September 11, 2006 at 11:00 PM
I love those purple shoes you wore the other week. Where did you get them?!
Posted by: Mermade | September 11, 2006 at 11:52 PM
I got them at a store in Old Town Pasadena that sells lots of Lacoste sneakers. I knew people noticed shoes!
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