Monday, August 13, 2012

If Shoes Could Talk

After suffering a little more than normal in the feet department during Saturday's race, I realized that it's time to retire my current trail shoes and get some new ones. They are the Women's Raptors, and they have 700km on them, along with several holes in the uppers. They've served me well.

So before I buy new ones, I went to my shoe rack and pulled out some more pairs that are due to be recycled. I confess that I felt a stab of pain in my heart when I put my beloved old original Raptors into the bag. Those are the shoes I wore for White River in 2010, and I did most of my training in them too.

There is one pair that I have never had the heart to get rid of, my old Sonics. They remain my favourite trail shoe ever, and I am still sad that Sportiva stopped making them. I keep them now for mountain biking and the occasional hike... even though I've had them since 2009. I ran Chuckanut and Forest Park 50k in those shoes.

How do I part with something that has been through so many miles with me? I think back to all those long training runs and all the stories the shoes could tell, if they could talk. All the heartache, all the bliss, all the pain and blisters and black toes and creek crossings and mud pits and rocks and roots and snow, vistas and valleys. The shoes are dirt-covered reminders of all that I love about trail running, and all that I've experienced along the way.

So here is my little tribute to my shoes... since I guess it would be a little weird to keep them all. Also thank you to Sportiva for making the best trail shoes ever!

My original Raptors after my last long training run for White River 2010.

My beloved Sonics after Chuckanut 50k, 2009

3 comments:

  1. i still have my north face shoes that i wore in the death race in 2003 ... i don't have the heart to throw them out!

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  2. Agreed! Always so sad to part with old friends. I'm on my 18th pair of Crosslites and still have a pang when the old pairs are relegated to dawg toys. I still wear the lace as a bracelet from the pair that I ran my first 100 miler in.

    The Sonics were an awesome shoe...but so are the Raptors, and Crosslites, and Vertical Ks....

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  3. I do the same and hang on to some favourites. But some are easier to throw out.

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