I felt like I was right back in high school. The annual excursion to pick out the coolest basketball sneakers I could justify. The chosen pair was always black (with the exception of some God-awful white, yellow and blue picked out senior year for a reason I still can't recall*), to best compliment the uniform (the Phantoms were maroon and white) and reduce the amount of visible wear (there's nothing worse than the first smears on a pair of white sneakers). I was primarily a Nike girl for basketball, as my favorite athletic shoewear brand was relegated to soccer cleats and the ever-present casualwear Sambas.
Despite living in Vermont, Massachusetts was always the go-to destination for basketball gear. I would stand in front of walls of sneakers at the Sports Authority (or, before SA, MVP Sports), trying to figure out which pair I could convince my parents to buy for me, which would look coolest and, if I had the common sense to think about it (and this was rare), which would best prevent the broken ankle that could come with any attempt to pull down a rebound.
So there I was, back in front of the Wall o' Sneaks, trying to figure out which ones would best aid me in my return to running. Only this time, I had to convince myself, as I was the one doing the buying. Amazing how The Cool Factor becomes less of an issue when you're plunking down your credit card to make the purchase. "I want shoes that won't kill my feet. That aren't overly expensive, as I'm just starting to return to this whole running thing. And, if both of these criteria are met, some cute ones would be nice."
Those are the new standards when you're buying your first official running shoes since high school.
Looking back on today's excursion, perhaps I should have gone on the Internet before heading to Dick's Sporting Goods (I won't even get into how weird it was to buy sneakers and have only a 15-minute drive back to my house). Because I bought my new running shoes after my flatmate (ever-wise, much as I hate to admit it at times) decreed that I was forbidden from running until I got new running shoes and did not complain of The Stupid Food Injury, I didn't bother to actually see if I could figure out what TSFI is. I assumed it was just a slightly pulled muscle on top of my foot.
Pretty simple process. 1) Get shoes that will better support foot. 2) Run, feeling foot recover. 3) Endure flatmate's chortling about being right. 4) Enjoy running process one has started to love again.
But I waited until making the purchase to check out the various running Web sites. And I've learned from my research that the list of possible ailments was pretty much narrowed to two finalists.
1) I could have a stress fracture in my foot.
2) I could have had shoes that were too small.
So, that in mind. How does one figure out which is the case? Because if it's a stress fracture, I could be out of luck for about six weeks. And need to go to a doctor to have the thing checked out.
(This does not please me. It's not that I'm not a fan of doctors, but I'm certainly not a fan of myself as a patient. It is not a role I am suited for.)
But if it's just that my shoes were too small before, I'd have to run to know if these new sneakers help.
See the dilemma?
I know, I know, the rational voice says, "So have your foot checked out, cough up the co-pay, find out your foot's fine and go from there."
But then there's the V voice. Which says, "You know if you go, the doctor will say you have a fractured bone in your foot. And you won't be able to run for six weeks. And that will suck. And the cute sneakers you bought? Shit out of luck for a little bit. Deal."
I've never had a broken bone in my life. I don't like the fact that I could have a fractured one now in a stupid location because I started running on a treadmill.
Talk about a wussy injury to have to own up to. Why couldn't I just possibly fracture an arm or something? At least then I'd have a cool cast and the resulting sympathy votes from others.
* not to be confused with the white, blue and yellow sneakers I decided on today. These are cute. The others? I still shudder at the thought of them. Well, no I don't. But they were pretty wretched and I cursed them for pretty much the entire season that year - despite having a much better season than the Black Sneaker Era.)
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