NEW Shoes!

Yesterday was a blessed day! I bought a NEW pair of running shoes. A much needed addition to my wardrobe for a long time now. I figure I had between 1300-1500 miles on the pair I've been running in and typically 500 miles would be the time to purchase a new pair.

I won't wait so long next time!

I had a WONDERFUL shoe buying experience at Phidippides in Ansley Mall on Piedmont Road (Midtown near Piedmont Park). I'll never go back to Dicks or Sports Authority or any place like that again!

The guy spent like close to an hour with me. First he looked at my current shoes, analyzing the wear patterns both on the soles and insides. Then, he watched me run in them, then walk... THEN, he started bringing out shoe after shoe after shoe... We didn't talk price and I didn't even think about looking at any of the prices on the boxes. I just wanted to be totally comfortable in whatever I bought, no matter the price. Now that I think about it, I think he kept the boxes turned so that I couldn't see the prices. In the end, after trying on what must have been close to a dozen pairs, running in each, narrowing it down to a handful then trying them on again, narrowing it down some more, putting one shoe brand on one foot and another on the other, running in those... It came down to the Filas. I'd never owned a pair of Filas before, always run in Nike, but that's what I went there for, just to try on a bunch of different brands and see which I felt most comfortable in.

This is a pair of performance Fila and get this... (this played no part in my decision) There were 2 Fila reps there at the time and I wasn't even aware of it until I had chosen the Filas. Evidently, they were watching me and after I chose the Filas, they came up with a new box (knew what size I needed) and said, "Here, have her try on these." It was a brand new shoe not even out on the market yet, an updated version of the shoe I bought. So, I tried on that one, ran in it, didn't like it, even tried it on again (after the guy had put it away in the box) ran in it again, still didn't like it. I liked the way it looked but didn't like the way it felt, so I went with my original choice.

One thing I REALLY like about the Filas was how smooth they were on the inside. The tongue completely integrated as part of the body of the shoe. I showed this to the rep in comparison to some of the others I had tried on and told him how important that was to me because of some of my past trouble with the tongue irritating my toenails during long runs thus resulting in the lose of those toenails.

I was VERY please with the whole process!

By the way, there prices were VERY competitive. After I had made my decision he told me that one of the pairs I had tried on was like $139 but the pair I chose, a $90 pair were on clearance for $65 - good choice.