Retail Therapy...

'What? You're going to go and buy some trainers? But you've got loads of trainers! Tons of them... all clogging up the spare room.'
'Well, no... not really because I've only one pair that I actually wear for running because...'
'Well there's about 10 in the spare room...' (That's an exaggeration - there's only 5!)

My planned retail therapy for today created a bit of a stir this morning; and he's right, I do have an unusually large number of running trainers in the spare room however I do need more because...

1. The Nike Pegasus are 2 years old now... I wear them for walking the dog and doing aerobics!
2. Asics gel something-or-other are heavy and they make my feet feel like I strapped weights to them instead of shoes (once I have some new trainers, I'll demote these to dog walking and aerobics doing instead)
3. The Adidas Kanadias are trail running shoes and therefore do not fit the purpose of road running!
4. The Puma cross-country shoes are (obviously) cross-country shoes but are also not mine... I just keep forgetting to give them back to Sandrine at club (Sorry Sandrine!).
5. My Brooks Defyance... have absolutely nothing wrong with them but...I just don't like them! Which very likely does just sound a little ridiculous, but they have gone from being a lovely comfortable shoe when I first bought them to shoes made by the devil which feel horrid and flat and nasty and painful every time I lace them up! So I'm giving up and buying new ones.

And anyway, after marking 32 scripts in a day, a bit of retail therapy is just what the doctor ordered. So, this afternoon, I hot-footed it off to Sweatshop in Manchester Arndale where a lovely man spent 45 minutes with me. We did a gait analysis where he confirmed that I do slightly over-pronate on my right foot - though nothing as bad as I used to, it seems all my work to improve my running gait has been paying off! So, with that in mind he tried me in a pair of  structured neutral trainers... perfect. With the anti-pronation sorted, we went through 4 pairs of shoes: Mizuno - felt too high at the back; New Balance - too wide; Asics - oooh... quite nice; and Brooks Glycerin 8... ooooh... also quite nice. After some 'umming' and 'ahhhring'... a lesson in how to tie my trainer up better... another run on the treadmill... several runs up and down the shop.... and bouncing about from one foot to the other... I chose the Brooks Glycerin. And, with Sweatshops' 30 day exchange period, should they not be right for me after all, the problem with the Defyance should be eradicated: 'You can run through mud in them, batter them, bash them, train hard in them' the guy assured me, 'but if you find they're not right for you, bring them back with the receipt within 30 days and we'll exchange them for something else'... brilliant! And with a bonus 10% running club member discount I bounced out the shop before I'd even put them on!

If nothing else, maybe these trainers will have a place(sh)bo(e) effect; I wouldn't be surprised if my feet and my Defyance had just fallen out with each other following 5 and 3/4 continuous hours in each other's company during the Marathon!! Anyway, I shall let you know how the new, shiny, very girlie looking silver and pink, Glycerins and I get on.

All in all, the retail therapy was fully successful as I also bought a new pair of socks, plenty of things I did and didn't need from Boots, a vegetarian Moussaka and Greek Salad from Marks and Sparks for tonight because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to cook, some alice bands from Accessorise, and nothing from Oasis or Coast because I don't need any more dresses even though they were very beautiful!