In perusing the DSW clearance rack, this pair of sneakers stopped me in my tracks.
It was seventh grade gym class. Our teacher took us all out to the track and informed us that we all had to run a full mile, and that we’d be timed. Excuse me? At the time I had no concept of how far a mile was, and I also was not a fan of running. I was – and am – more of an indoors kind of girl.
On this particular, horrible gym day, I remember panicking at the thought of running a mile. A mile was something you drove in a car! I didn’t even live a mile from the school! Plus, I was wearing my raspberry colored high top Converse sneakers; not exactly athletic footwear.
The class staggered and took off running on the teacher’s cue. Or – in my case – more like wogging, which was a clumsy cross between jogging (when the teacher was looking at me) and walking (which was every other minute on the track). My feet ached, my arches were screaming, and I wanted to cry.
After being lapped by most of the class (who didn’t stick around the cheer me on), I was, officially, the last person to finish. I think I clocked a 10+ minute mile, barely finishing in our allotted time for gym class.
That day is burned into my memory, and likely the reason why I never wanted to run. In my late thirties I ran my first 5K, mostly because I needed to do some type of exercise and a friend said she’d train with me. And there I was, back on that SAME track, doing the couch to 5K. Hating it just as much as I had 20 years earlier.
But back to the sneakers. How I LOVED those raspberry Converse! Fast forward a few decades and here was this pair sitting on the clearance rack, in almost the exact same color, except they were suede – a total upgrade. But I didn’t get them, because the minute I saw them, I was transported back to that horrible day of gym class, and how they were the worst shoes to have on that day. And I reminded myself that I’m too old to wear shoes with no arch support and that hurt my feet.
Life of kk 