And all that I knew...

It was raining again this morning. Fairly heavily. I remembered to take my umbrella which helped somewhat, but after walking for a short while I was reminded of a problem in my shoes, specifically a hole the size of a 50 pence piece in the underside of the right sole.

It was letting in water, big time.

By my arrival at work I had a very soggy right sock. I removed my shoe and allowed the sock to dry.

Since the rain showed no sign of stopping, I resolved to take a trip to the shoe shop to purchase new, holeless shoes. Marks and Spencers is my favourite shoe shop because you don't have to talk to an assistant. It's all self service.

The shoes I self-served myself turned out to be identical to the old ones, just newer. I liked the old ones, they were comfy. Apart from the obvious there was no reason to change. I bought the replacements and then wore them for the rest of the day. Now I have dry feet and am happier.

Another Pair of New Running Shoes

I bought my current running shoes (a pair of Saucony Omni 5s) about a year ago, so I reckon I've done about four hundred miles in them to date. Whilst still comfy enough, they don't seem quite as springy as they used to, and in any case I'm led to believe that you're supposed to replace them well before they start actually falling apart.

I figured it would be safest to buy a new pair now so that I could get them properly run in by the Great North Run time.

Now, some people say I don't like change. They're wrong. I like change as much as the next man (long as he's not swapped places with someone else) and I'd go as far to say that I embrace it, I savour it, I actually embody it. After all, I was planning to change my shoes!

So, goodbye Saucony Omni 5s, hello Saucony Omni 6s:



They're pretty different! And they smell nice too.

I got them from Up & Running again, York's finest specialist running shop. Since I knew pretty much what I wanted this time, they didn't make me run on the treadmill or anything like that. Suited me fine as I needed the loo.

The bad thing with this is that I no longer can use the "I've got old shoes" excuse for being crap at running.

New Shoes

My old shoes were in a bit of a state. Some time ago the laces broke so I bought some new ones. The new ones were a bit on the thin side and this meant that they would come undone on a regular basis. I have spent most of the last six months bent over retying my shoe-laces. Not much fun. Also the in-soles can only be described as "buggered to pieces". And the right shoe feels like it permanently has something stuck to the bottom of it even though it hasn't. I've checked several times.

Also, they are a bit dirty.

Therefore I decided to purchase some new ones. Actually, I decided to do this some while back but I only got around to doing it today.

My shoe shop of choice was Marks & Spencers because it's all self service and so I wouldn't have to talk to a shoe shop assistant. It always takes about an hour for them to go into the back room to fetch a pair of shoes for you to try on. I'm pretty sure that they always make themselves a cup of tea whilst they're in there. Or maybe they just sit down and do a Sudoku for a bit. Or maybe they catch up on Neighbours. Whatever it is, it takes ages and I couldn't be arsed with that today.

Hence M&S.

The first pair of shoes I picked up to try on would have been fine except that they were both left shoes, and there were no right ones anywhere obviously nearby. I abandoned them and tried a different pair. These were better as they came in both feet. I tried them on, they fit, I took them off and bought them.

They have fairly smooth soles so at the moment they are pretty lethal when worn on carpet. It's slip slidy slip slip. I shall have to be careful. I nearly fell over in the shop when I tried them on (maybe this should have put me off...) and so I think they'll need a bit of outside wear to get them a bit grippier. Hopefully they won't be as slippy outside... I'll find out tomorrow morning. I really hope it's not an icy day or I may actually die.

But at least I shouldn't have to keep retying my laces.

I also, whilst in the shop, purchased some new Day Of The Week Socks - the ones that say what day you are supposed to wear each pair on. I shall obey the instructions, initially at least. I don't want more bad sock Karma.