Smokin' Shoes

I found my new favorite store. It's a specialty store for runners and has anything & everything you could possibly want or need for running wear. I stopped by there yesterday with my sister to check out the sale that I'd gotten a postcard about. I hadn't ever been there before because its downtown and I really don't enjoy driving (but mostly parking) downtown, so I just hadn't ventured there yet. But, I'll need a new pair of shoes here any mile, and I had heard great things about how they help you find the right shoe for you, so that combined with the possiblity of the shoes being on sale was enough to prompt me to go.

It was pretty cold yesterday so there weren't too many folks around downtown, the traffic seemed dead and I could count the pedestrians on one hand, so I was feeling optimistic. Once we figured out where the shop was, I drove around the block in search of a parking space, which is the hardest thing for me about being downtown since I don't parallel park, at all. I pulled into an angled spot, but my sister complained about having to walk that far in the cold, so I continued around the block to the front and lo and behold, there, smack dab in front of the store was a spot! Not just one spot, but the whole side of the street was empty! WOOHOO! I pulled right up and we were in the store.

Inside we were greeted by snacks put out by teh door, sale racks and very helpful salespeople. The owner (who is really nice and I know his wife, who is a sweetheart) was right there to help me find the right shoe for me (which I learned is one with a bit of control to help keep me from getting shin splints!) at a really decent price--like almost half of what I paid for a similar shoe (actually same brand but without all the bells and whistles) at the mall. I was super excited. I walked around to check out the rest of the store and picked out a couple other items on sale, but mostly I fell in love with all the "special runner's stuff" I saw. For some odd reason, it kind of helped reignite an excitement in me for running again, well, that and the fact that since I've actually been running again, I can run 30 minutes again without dying. :-) I'm looking forward to doing some of the fun runs that they do around here in the spring and summer. I'm really tempted to make a goal that has something to do with the half or full marathon that will happen here in July, but am not sure if I want to attempt that much yet. I have failed at that goal twice already before (not at the actual race, but in my training) and I dont want to fail again, so I need to think it through a bit more before I shoot for that again, I think.

So, last night we got together with our family group and had cake for Erik's birthday (Jess made a killer wacky cake with cute four wheelers on top) and then played the game "Smoker's Wild". Its a weird game from the 70's that was produced in Canada and is all about anti-smoking. Players have to resist influence and advertising to stay nonsmokers as they move around a "life line" and deal with an insurance agent, tobacco company, doctor & undertaker. Basically, the game is over when someone "dies" and the winner is whoever is lower on the life-o-meter, which last nigth was a tie between me & Sonja. Woohoo. :0) It was pretty funny.

I will close this with an image from breakfast this morning. We all had eggs that Erik whipped up, but Kera, who chose instead to have cinnamon toast. Nothing says YUM like cinnamon toast...