"How was your weekend?"

Returning to work on Mondays usually means that everyone will be asking, per the obligatory Monday convo, "So, how was your weekend?"  And its a question I actually really liked being asked, because I love my life outside of work.  But its a question I never have an exciting answer to.  I usually just say, "Oh, you know, good.  We didn't do much of anything, which was nice and relaxing."  Because no one wants to hear what we really did this weekend, which was try on running shoes!

The Hubs was known as DJ Research in college because of his knack for not knowing anything about a topic one day, and suddenly knowing everything about that same topic the next day.  So when we got into running, the Hubs jumped into true DJ Research mode and learned a lot about the sport (not everything, obviously, because there is so much to learn).  Through his research we learned about barefoot running, and minimalist shoes.  The Hubs got a pair of the Asics Piranha sp2 for Christmas one year, and was hooked.  I finally got a minimalist pair 2 months ago, the Saucony Shay XC2, and let me tell you, I am hooked.  In fact, its because of that shoe that I've decided I want to become a better runner.

Its one of the most comfortable shoes I have EVER worn.  I never want to take them off.  And they are super light and great to run in.  After running in them for a week, I went for a run in my old Mizunos because I forgot my Shays at home.  Ugh.  Never again.

That said, I'm not sure if the Shays are really the best for my feet.  It really pronounces my tendency to over-pronate.  I know that means I need to work on my foot strike, but that might not be possible in the Shays.  Still, I am so enthusiastic to run that I've signed up for 3 races in the next two months!  And I don't want to change shoes while I train for those races.  I'll give the Shays until June and then decide if I should try another pair.

Despite the fact that we are not ready to buy new running shoes, this morning our little family unit found ourselves at the local athletic store trying on two new minimalist shoes: the New Balance Minimus and the Merrell Trail and Pace Glove.  I really liked the Minimus, and felt they would probably be easy to run in.  The shoe was just a tad too short (I have really long feet), and to go a size up would make the shoe too wide (I also have really narrow feet.  Horrid combination).  They didn't have the Merrell in my size, but the Hubs really didn't like them.  He said it felt like there was a bar going across the ball of his foot.  Not sure what that meant, but I'll probably check them out myself when I am seriously shoe shopping.

And of course, we can't go anywhere without Little Nugget in tow.  He was more enraptured by the bins of basketballs and soccer balls nearby than he was with any of the shoes for sale.  Though he was quite taken with a pair of hiking shoes another customer had left out, and was trying his darnedest to put his little feet in the oversized shoe until my husband said, "Hey, aren't those someone's actual shoes?"  Well, yes, now that you mention it, they do look rather tatty.  So we redirected him to the basketballs and tried to teach him to dunk.

When we left, I noticed that the owner of those shoes still hadn't returned.  Hmmmm....

So this Monday, when co-workers ask, "How was your weekend?" I'll refrain from telling them the boring and slightly weird truth of, "Great! We tried on minimalist running shoes and Nugget tried on some invisible customer's tatty hiking shoes!" and just say my usual, "Nice and relaxing.  How was yours?"