King of the Closet

Getting new shoes is one of the great pleasures a runner has. It is almost orgasmic when you open the box, as that new shoe smell permeates your nasal cavities, lifting them ever so gently like a new born baby blinking at all the possibilities that life has in store for them. Your mind races to all the trails, routes and work-out that you and your happy feet are going to have in the upcoming days, weeks and months. Oh happy day!!! Pure heaven awaits for you outside the door.

But there is one pair of shoes that trumps them all; brand new racing flats. Training shoes are awesome, but your racers, well these puppies define who you are as a runner. That's right, a runner is not defined by how many miles he or she has ran. A runner is not defined by the places they train. A runner is defined by the times that he or she has ran over a certain distance from point A to Point B. Plain and simple, I am defined by how well I manage to cover 5000 and 10,000 meters within the parameters of time. Therefore, my racing shoes are the King of the Closet, for their task is greater than all other Nikes, Adidas and Mizunos that share space with them, for they are all working for the day that the King laces up and takes my ten little piggies to market for the ride of their life.

As the new year is about to begin, I was given a great Christmas present from my wife, a brand new pair of neon green Nike Zoom Streak XC racing flats. For the past 58 days I have sacrificed a portion of my day, some days two portions, to trod bits of this blue and green planet as fast as my two legs could carry me for that day. But I do not run to for the pure joy of running, although I do enjoy the activity, I run to cover ground fast and hopefully faster than most 43, soon to be 44 year old runners do. I train to race. Win or lose. First or last. I run because I love to race and I need a shoe that will allow me on any given day to walk away saying "wow, I gave all I had today and it was well worth it!"

So I look forward to 2011 and either passing you or you passing me, with my bright neon green Nikes pounding away from point A to point B! As for the moment, I am going to go back to the closet and admire my Zoom Streaks and dream of a 5K road race with that fresh new shoe smell.

As always, stay healthy, keep running, and make sure to run a few races this year!