Running Shoes

Man, I used to run 4 mi. every day before they invented running shoes. I wore Converse All Star basketball shoes. I ran the Deseret News marathon in them. Well, 85% of it till my legs would no longer bend and the poop-out truck had to haul me like a pine board to the finish line. I never even got winded. It's just that I had never tried to run more than 4 miles before, and my legs got stiff as boards. A few years later, running was invented and along with it, the running shoe. Now everyone was doing road work, not just athletes. My brother helped me buy my first pair. A gray set of Nikes. Wow, what a difference for running it made! I also liked 2 other things about those early running shoes: 1 - You could wear them a solid week without changing your socks and your feet never began to stink. They were made of nylon, not polyester. 2 - They never wore out. They lasted lots longer than a pair of canvas basketball shoes if you kicked around in them like you do the all stars. They were nylon, not plastic and polyester. Running shoes these days make an immediate stench and they feel clammy from the minute I put them on, and they make toe mold grow on me. Another thing I loved about the old ones, looking back, they didn't have anything in them that you had no use for. Stuff like 'support' and all that jazz. Sure, the Nikes had great high arch support, which is why I bought Nike instead of Adidas, but they did not have some bertha wall around your heel that would wear itself through the cushion and fabric and dig into your skin after you only had them less than a year. Or even less. Man they were comfortable and trouble-free - right up to the day you threw them into the trash because finally, all your toes were sticking through and the sole was no longer making any difference from running barefoot. Which is what I am back to doing again these days.