When I was a kid we bought "sneakers". I don't believe there was such a thing back then as a running shoe or a basketball shoe like there is today. The going name brand at that time was the "Red Ball Jet". This was a sneaker that had a little red circle on the very back of the shoe along the tread. If you walked behind someone wearing Red Ball Jets, you could easily see the little red ball. It did not matter what sport you played, there really was only one type of shoe to choose from....the "Red Ball Jet".
Then came the day we heard about Converse sneakers. My Junior High basketball team all bought these after being told by the coach that this was what the Boston Celtics wore. Being from Maine, this information had high impact on all of us. Besides, we were getting them at a reduced price of about $10 a pair, as I remember it.
Years later in the early 1990's I received a pair of Reebok basketball shoes. They were excellent and the best pair I had ever owned up to that time. My kids gave them to me that year for Christmas. The only problem was, they were not comfortable. I slowly broke them in but never wore them as much as I would have liked. In time I did find them to be comfortable and wore them often for sports activities. After a while they got replaced by nicer looking pairs and were only used on rare occasions. They sat in the back of my closet for years.
I started running seriously in 2003. I first used the best pair of running shoes that I had at the time. In time I got to the place where I needed a second pair of shoes to use. While hunting in my closet to see what I had, I came across the pair of Reeboks and decided to see if they would work.
Experienced runners will tell you that shoes should be replaced every 350 to 400 miles in order to avoid injury. Some will retire their shoes even sooner than that, but everyone warns about the dangers of keeping shoes too long.
When I record my run each day, I always indicate which shoes I wore. Yesterday the Reebok pair that I brought out of the closet reached 1,000 miles. Sadly, it is time to retire them for good. I have not minded using them up until now. I have felt that because I am not a heavy person and since I also don't run for speed, the miles have been more friendly than those that most runners experience. However, the shoes are beginning to be thin in the tread area.
It is a cold 24 degrees here today so I only ran a minimal amount of 3 miles.
This brings my total to 50.91 miles.
The 1,000 mile pace bunny is at 54.8 miles.
The 500 mile pace bunny is at 27.4 miles.
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1 comment:
I remember Red Ball Jets.
When I was a little kid, I had to have corrective shoes. They were saddle oxfords -- white with either a black saddle or a brown saddle. I couldn't wear the Mary Jane shoes that other little girls wore; neither could I wear sneakers in summer. Saddle oxfords. When I slip my Asics on now, I need to make a mental note to thank my mother for making me wear saddle oxfords for the first eight years of my life.
Nice blog, my friend. I will have to check it out thoroughly later. cj
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