Sometimes I’m a sucker for advertising. But. In this case I had actually been thinking about getting some strictly gym/working out shoes. My everyday shoes are what I’ve been wearing to the gym and sweating in. And they stink. So I wanted some gym-only shoes and try and defunkify my other shoes.

I’ve been seeing the commercials for the Nike Free Training shoes. Run Barefoot. etc. They’re supposed to be like running barefoot and the point of it all is to strengthen your foot. I guess it’s kinda like free weights versus weight machines. Using free weights will make you use more muscles.

I tried some on at my local athletic retail store and they felt really nice. But they didn’t have my size in the style I wanted. We were in Tupelo today treating M’s dad to Father’s day lunch. So we swung by the mall and I went shopping.

I visited every shoe store and found the one that had the best selection. They also had the “best” sales people. He explained that I shouldn’t put these shoes on and go running right away. Why? Because I didn’t grow up in Kenya running barefoot so my feet won’t be strong enough to handle it and I’d strain and/or pull something in my feet. Ok. I guess I’ll walk around for a bit first. Nah, I’ll just hit the stairclimber and treadmill and see what happens. Also, I should buy some sole inserts because they will pad his commission, er, I mean, pad my feet better. But I thought the whole point was to run barefoot? Not barefoot with rubber pads strapped to my feet. So I declined the inserts, though they did feel nice (he had me try them out and walk around of course). I added a headband and a Lance Armstrong cancer donation yellow bracelet thingy (which I gave to my sis-in-law) to my purchase and called it a day.

I’ll be trying these shoes out in the morning at the gym. If they suck, I’ll never speak of them again. If they’re awesome, I’ll expect monetary compensation from the Nike marketing department since I’ll be plugging them like mad here.