quite a pair

On Saturday, I bought sneaks. Adidas Kayanos in gray and lavender. I would have prefered white and orange, or orange and fuschia, or anything but gray, but as I learned today, you're supposed to buy running shoes based on a myriad of factors like whether your feet overpronate or underpronate, the height of your arches and the length of your stride, none of which has anything to do with the hue. And, since the sneaker companies only seem to release each style in one or two colors at any one time, when you find that perfect sole mate, you pounce on it. Even if it's mauve and beige. Even if it's gray and lavender. All these things I learned at Jack Rabbit, my local neighborhood running store. I'd dragged myself there with Rebecca and Kate after our post-run-brunch. We'd run 7-miles through Prospect Park, and my feet felt like I'd tromped the entire distance in stilletos. "Sneakers have a life span, and yours are dead," said the saleswoman, and we both looked down at my one-year-old Adidas Gel Classics. This was news to me. I'd once managed to wear the same pair of Nike cross-trainers for three years, and I only bought three pairs of cleats in 10 years of soccer (a testament to how little time I spent on the field). Nearly two hours later, after trying on nearly every pair of shoes in the store and running on the treadmill in every one (the pros at Jack Rabbit videotape your stride to gauge the sneak's fit), I walked out with my Kayanos. In a size 8. I usually wear a 6 1/2 or 7, but turns out feet swell during marathons, and too-small shoes are the biggest reason marathoners lose their toenails. Since anything involving toenail damage has always been one of my biggest phobias (just one of those things...), I erred on the side of caution. The sneaks proved their might in my timed mile run tonight. To gauge our speed, we ran two one-mile loops of the park. I was strangley nervous--flashbacks to those mile runs in the Presidential Fitness Awards, but I did one in 9min and the second in 9:02, and my feet felt just fine. I've found my sole mates.