What the ...?

Alright, so there I was yesterday running along my first half mile when I found two pennies. I thought to myself, "Wow, that didn't take long!"

Then, there I was running along my fourth mile when I looked down, saw what I saw and thought, "That didn't take long, either."

Ohhhhhh, hell no.

I could not believe my eyeballs. My lovely, very comfy saucy shoes already failed me!! This is the exact spot where my big toe hits. I saw that it was wearing underneath before heading out, but it never dawned on me the mesh wouldn't hold up at this stage of the game. Had I already put a few hundred miles on them, okay. But, three weeks and less than 100 miles? This was ridiculous!

Also ridiculous was spending the next mile and a half focused only on my toe position keeping them curled down so as not to blow right through the top of the shoe. Total. Drag. It's a good thing there was a Diet Coke waiting for me at the end of this crazy run!

For as spastic as I get about shoes and trusting them, I was uncharacteristically calm. I figured there was no way the company wouldn't work with me on them. I still had the receipt (yahoo!), still had the box (another yahoo!) and I had faith it would work out.

Spoiler alert: It totally worked out!

Once we got home from our bagel and game time, Aaron called the store from which I bought the shoes just in case they would work with us instead of having to contact Saucony. We figured they'd say we had to contact the company, but it was worth a shot.

Me: Why does this shoe thing have to be such a pain?
Aaron: Because you value your money more than you value your shoes.
Me: Ahh ... true.

It turned out to not only be worth calling, but the store manager did absolutely everything a customer could want. We took the shoes in for her to see, she totally validated that this hole (plus some other wear that was happening on the other shoe) should not have been happening, and we were free to swap them for either the same shoe or for whatever shoe we wanted (price adjustment up or down applicable). And, if there's another break-down problem, whether the same or different brand, we can bring them back, and she'll work with us.

Are you kidding me? It was that simple?? It was. I wanted to hug her! But, I didn't.

At that point, Aaron and I became experts (haha) at shoe assessment. The conclusions were drew were (a) the mesh of my fabulous hot pink shoes was much wider than any other shoe I've owned, and (b) while we could swap for the same shoe without risk, we were reasonably certain the break through would happen again. I've had some wear like that on shoes before, but it usually takes a year to even begin, and it's only ever been some wear. As in, evidence that a toe is under there. Kind of like when a wallet finally permanently imprints on someone's back pocket. I've never had a toe actually break through, and I just accepted that the structure of this shoe is not meant for my foot.

Me: (eyeballing the beauty of the saucy hot pink shoes that were still there in my size) Well, what do you think?
Aaron: I honestly think it's going to happen again.

MAN!

So, the shoe hunt games began! (A particular shout-out to Aaron who could not have been more patient while I searched. He's the kind of dude who will hang out and hold my purse and not be a turd about it while he also looks around for shoes appealing to me. He rocks.) We spent a lot of time comparing the toe mesh of many shoes to figure out what we should be considering, and we definitely found patterns of look and feel of those that have worked for me in the past when I was blissfully unaware that this was an issue I should even consider or otherwise ever discuss.

Here's the reveal of what I sincerely hope is a long-term winner!

Very summer chic, don't you think?!

They totally passed the mesh test. It's tighter than even the
mesh I have on the beloved Asics I was wearing.

Aaron was fabulous and full of patience still holding my purse as I tried them on and jogged around the store (yeah, I'm that person). They felt different, but they felt really good! And, of foremost assessment, there was no slippage in the heel area. (Years ago, that factor was my first experience picking the wrong shoe. I've been a bit paranoid ever since about my shoe-selecting skills. Yeah, that's when and why all of this started.)

 

In other good news, these were $10 less expensive than the pretty pink ones. Cha-ching! Back into the purse Aaron was still holding for me!

 

AND, in extra bonus material, they'll look fabulous with the many shoe lace options I have -- important when PC#2 just gave me new ones at Easter. See?

Out. Standing.

Let's not forget the headband I just bought at the Expo:

I'm like a fashionista. Oh, and the candy stick? I just put that
there because it, too, looked fabulous with the shoes! You
gotta have fun!

Seriously ... running ... put on your shoes, and head out the door, right? Evidently not! Tomorrow's the first go with the new kicks!! Let's hope the shoe evaluation discussions start to diminish from here! Thanks for hanging in there -- hopefully my trials over something seemingly so basic help you feel more normal when you trial-and-error different aspects of your endeavors! Keep persevering, and I'll see you after the morning run!