We All Have Our Quirks

Confession.  I have spent a good portion of the last 4 years becoming a total and complete running shoe nerd.  From the technologies to the marketing campaigns, every aspect of this sector of consumerism catches my attention.  I mean, I really can't think of another general product out there to which variation and personalization is so important (besides, maybe, coffee.  But that comparison is for another post).  There is a shoe for every runner, there is a shoe for every type of running.

Anyway.  I can subsequently identify the make and model of almost any pair of running sneaks that I see out in public, oftentimes by just a glance.  Should I be embarrassed of this?  Maybe.  Am I?  NOPE.

Diving into a pile of running shoes > diving into a pile of leaves
(photo via humanbeingactive.org)

I have been finding myself stuck inside for my workouts more and more lately and have thus come up with a good few ways to keep myself entertained in the static scenery of the gym.  Yeah, there are the typical methods- music, daydreaming, concentrating on the workout at hand much more intensely than necessary, etc.  Then there's the ever popular game of people watching.. but I don't exactly people watch.  Get ready for this: I shoe watch.  Weird?  Whatever!  The gym just so happens to house a lot of feet donning these pieces of technology, and I like to test my shoe IQ.

I, sort of involuntarily, have little internal conversation with myself about the shoes I see.  Make, model, characteristics, comparable shoes, type of running the person might be doing, things I like or dislike about that certain shoe, and, sometimes, whether a person would notice if I slipped a particularly nice pair off of their feet and ran...

And you know what?   You'd be amazed by the trends you notice in a crowd based off of the exercise gear on their feet.  I could go on and on about the observations I make about people's feet in the gym.  ...but I guess I won't.

And here goes my attempt to get a conversation going in my dull and lifeless blog:  Do you have any weird quirks or habits, related to running, the gym, or anything else?  I know I don't have many (any?) readers, but hey- you're reading this!  Cmon and leave some feedback, let me know I'm not alone in my bizarre behaviors.  Or just let me know how freakin weird I am.



P.S. Speaking of my running shoe obsession.. these just might be next on my list.

Brooks Launch.  Aww yeah.

(and so the Mizuno-Sarah-Brooks love triangle continues...)