My injured left big toe had miraculously healed on Wednesday while I was at work. When Dobson wanted to go for a walk that night, I didn't want to reaggravate it somehow.
Wearing flipflops hurt that morning, so I put on my old stability shoes that I used to wear running but have since let sit useless in a row of other idled running shoes. I thought my old, broken-in trainers would be more comfortable than the shoes I'd worn to work. I was wrong.
Shocked by the mass of these clodhoppers and surprised by how awkward my toe felt inside these protective casings, I removed the old shoes in favor of the flatsoled brown leather Sperrys I'd worn all day.
I've held onto my old cushioned running shoes because it seemed so wasteful to get rid of them. Besides, I could wear them to bum around, or maybe I'd don them again during the snowy months like I did last winter.
Three out of the four pairs of shoes I have left over from my non-minimalist days -- or I should say, my excessive days -- have more than 500 miles on them and the other pair is close behind. However, we all know that 500-mile mark is just a marketing myth to get you to buy another pair of $100 shoes.
Maybe it's time to expel these unused extras. I was thinking I should donate them to one of those running charities. If any of you have any ideas of where I can dispose of these shoes, please let me know.
Back Talk
Back Talk
Wherein we discuss starvation strategies.
Several of you echoed Xenia's concern about my long runs without fuel: "Are you going without fuel because you don't want to carry anything with you or because you like to torture yourself?"
Answer: First, I was too lazy to go buy electrolyte gels or whathaveyou for my long runs. Then, I was too cheap. Then, I realized that this might actually be a good training strategy. I eat before I run and then rely on my body's energy stores to get me through to the end. So far, I'm still alive.
Happy Hour is nearly upon us, teammates. Have a finely brewed weekend. Run well and drink well. Cheers!
4 comments:
A lot of local running stores will take old shoes and tey donate them to charity and often times they give you some sort of discount for recycling them. Otherwise, there are lots of other non-profit organizations that take the shoes to other countries. It would only take a quick web browse to find such charitable organizations.
Around here, the local Fleet Feet stores take shoes in the 'Soles for Soles' program.
Although, I suspect they do it just so people don't feel bad discarding perfectly good shoes, while shelling out more cash for new ones!
You really want me to tell you what you can do with your old shoes? Really? I think we both know already.
Found our post via Twitter.
We would love to help you donate your shoes & change a person's life!
Like BrianFlash mentioned, we have "Drop Box" locations across the country. You can find a drop off location near you by typing in your zip code here: http://www.soles4souls.org/about/locations.html
We'd love to partner with you and change the world one pair at a time!
Thanks,
S4S Staff
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