These Shoes Are Made For Walking

A few years ago, my good friend Laura and I ran the Disney marathon. Being both more fleet of foot and athletically inclined than I, she finished in under four hours and had to wait around for another hour and a half for me to cross the finish line. As I said, she's a good friend. (At least Disney takes care of its runners and she got to wait where the bagels, fruit, and Gatorade are plentiful. I, on the other hand, was fighting the urge to crawl my way through my last 7 miles and seriously contemplated kissing the girl handing out little Dixie cups of beer at mile 19.)

But I digress.

The following weekend, in the spirit of female fellowship, she asked, "Do you want to get a pedicure with me?"

Now, ordinarily to a recovering marathoner these are magical words. Wouldn't you want to treat your feet after they carried you through 26.2 blister-filled miles in one morning?

To this marathoner, however, it was a horrifying prospect. And not a particularly financially wise one either.

"Laura," I pointed out. "I have four toenails."

I don't always have four toenails. Most of the time I have the regular amount. (Except right now. Right now I have eight.) But usually there are ten.

See, my toes are unique. They generally appear quite unassuming. Sort of cute in an ugly sort of way? But when I start training for any sort of athletic endeavor they swell up like miniature puffer fish which in turn causes the dreaded black toenail. After I pop the blister underneath the nail, eventually the toenail falls off. Or, if I get impatient, I pull them off.

This, while not exactly comfortable, is not as painful as it sounds. And they grow back, I swear! But obviously it's not a desirable situation, and so it's been an ongoing mission of mine to find shoes that do not cause this to a happen.

Nike wasn't the one to win my heart. I really thought Asics and I would sail off into the sunset together, but I was wrong. For awhile Brooks and I had a steady thing going. But even their promise of a wide toe box and fitted heel could not conquer the inevitable toe swelling.

I've been a little bit of a sneaker slut over the years, and today I surrendered the latest in a string of footwear fails. Sauconys, just so you know, are also not "the one," and are the current reason for two of my toes sporting the naked look.

So, with hope in my heart, I headed over to the New Balance store behind our apartment complex to find the shoes in which I will walk the 3-Day. Their method of sizing was all very high tech and involved a computer that evaluated my stockinged feet and confirmed what I already knew.

I have fat toes, guys.

Fortunately, I have a medium arch, which means I don't suffer from over- or under-pronation. After trying on several pairs of unsatisfactory shoes, I developed a crush on both the 760s and the 860s. I decided to get a pair of each and will trade them off during training, as well as during the walk.

They're incredibly comfortable, and have good cushioning and a relatively wide toe box. And the 760s are the official shoe for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure which is cool. But also?

They're sort of hot.

I don't want to jump the gun, but me (and my toes) just might be in love.