V 1 N. 8 A Shoe Story Made in Heaven

                                                     To Shoe or Not to Shoe?

                          Or Dead Guys’ Shoes Are My Lifeblood

Two weeks ago on a Tuesday I was making my weekly trek through Value Village, the major thrift store in my community (Courtenay, British Columbia), for that is Senior Discount day offering geezers 30% off on all goods purveyed in the shoppe. I always walk through the shoe section in hopes that a good pair of Hokas, Adi’s, New B’s, or Nike’s might be available in my elephantine hoof size 13. It had been more than a year since I’d seen anything even resembling a mildly worn pair of high end running shoes and never anything sporting the recent developments in composite carbon fibre plates that supposedly spring the runner forward with each stride. But then to my amazement I saw something, well only one shoe, but what a shoe!

It was a New B, New Balance for the uninitiated, and it was huge, and clean, and virtually untrodden in by a former owner. Did he die or did his wife lock him out of the house? I usually check the wear on the heel to make the level of usage determination. Mein Gott, it was a New Balance SC Elite and size 13! . The insole had printed on it “Fuel Cell Super Comp”. Had I indeed stumbled onto the Ark of the Covenant here in Value Village? But there was only one shoe. Where in Kingdom Come was the other? Had I in my worldly wandering stumbled into Hell where only one shoe of quality was available? I looked through the shelves all the way down to the size 8’s and then amongst the Canadian logging boots, snow shoes, CFM high heeled sandals when suddenly I saw the heel of the matching SC Elite sticking out from under the shoe rack. It did not come out from under that rack easily. I had to get down on hands and knees to pry it out and nearly tipped over the rack which would have gotten me a banning from the store for life. But the gods were smiling on me that day and I was able to finally retrieve the shoe with the help of a little old lady who I leaned against the rack at a slight tilt to hold it up while I retrieved the shoe. I thanked her profusely as she headed on to the section selling corsets. 

I noted on my cellphone that the SC Elite retailed for somewhere in the neighborhood of $330. With Canadian sales tax that would be close to $350. The price of this pair of shoes was $24.99. So with my senior discount I walked or should I say ‘sprinted’ out of the store after paying $17.49 plus tax. I couldn’t wait to give those shoes a test drive, but for a day I just put them on the dining table and looked at them. I did run them through a wash cycle as well and let them dry out ready for the supreme field test the following day. When I finally put them on with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson singing “The Highwayman” in the background, I found that there was a bit of an initial challenge just standing up in those shoes. The heel seemed to be tapered to provide no support if you leaned at all backward. These babies were built to go forward. 

Once I adjusted for this new stability challenge I walked forward and found surprise, surprise that I didn’t want to walk, I wanted to run, but I was still in the dining room. I got out the front door without stepping on the cat and headed down the street in slow, deliberate strides, noting that for some reason my legs were feeling that about fifteen years of age had been lopped off from those aching muscles and arthritic joints. I mean really, how was this possible? I was almost afraid to try running hard, so I made gentle strides down the block and back to the house and went inside, thinking should I hide these shoes in case they had been stolen? How could anyone have donated them to a thrift store? Were they feeling guilt for stealing them from a leper lying in the street, or a runner who had collapsed in a road race?  I’m a guy who has all  but given up running for the past year and turned to cycling so he could still get some thrills of speed. 

Next day I took the shoes out to the running track. I did some easy run throughs on a soccer field to warm up, then moved over to the track to run a measured distance and see what my time would be. Not being over ambitious I just ran 100 meters. If you can find a track with 100 ‘yards’ marked on it please tell me, feakin’ metric heads’. Anyway I began popping 27 seconds for 100 meters, walking back each time and managed to do ten of them. Okay, it’s not fast , but I’m 82 now and I know I used to do 220 ‘yards’ in that time in repeats. But what the hey? I was almost in tears I, felt so rejuvenated.  So what if I were counting "One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, as I timed myself down the straightaway?

But this is not the end of the story.

A week later I was back at Value Village, knowing absolutely that history will not repeat, I still walked through the shoe section, and holy guacamole another pair of size 13 New B’s is on the rack and this time I did not have to get on hands and knees to retrieve them. They were not as high quality, Fresh Foam 1080’s that are listed at between $100 and $200, and they don’t have the composite carbon plate in them. But boy are they comfortable and great for walking and running. And with discount they were only $14.99! I could not believe my luck. I did go to the store again the following Tuesday, but alas my luck had run its course. No size 13’s to be found. But one must not be greedy, must one? 

The SC Elite   

 The Fresh Foam 1080's (I scuffed them riding my bike.)

I'm sure someone will say,  "George, you were taken; those are knockoffs."  But I'm stickin' to my guns.

I have some other musings on shoes and  will leave them for the next issue.

Take care,

George