For the last few weeks I’ve been walking a lot. In the summer I walk around town as a matter of habit, it’s nice out and pleasant to walk to the cafe for an iced coffee. Naturally, my walking increases. My doctor said to me during my last visit, “Have you considered walking?” Which I think is a funny way to say to me, “Hey tubby, you need to lose a few pounds and get your blood pressure down, so you know you should walk.” So I’ve increased my usual walks from short pleasant walks to longer less pleasant walks, especially with the heat we’ve been having.

One of the side effects of these walks is that my feet have been hurting because I’ve been walking in my usual shoes; chuck taylors, doc martins and the like. I haven’t had true athletic shoes in a very very long time. So last night I ventured into a big box shoe store and looked for womens’ sneakers that were black with no neon colors or pink, pale purple, or baby blue. Pretty much an impossible task. I found 4 out of 500 pairs of sneakers that were not garish in color.

I am tempted to go on a long tirade about how some women would like plain black sneakers or even black and white without the addition of neon colors, but I think that’s a tirade for another day.

As I tie these sneakers to my feet I feel like a big fat fraud. I used to be pretty athletic. I used to run, mountain bike and a lot of those athletic things. At some point I ran out of time. When I lace these shoes up it doesn’t feel right, like I'm a fraud. I know I’m not going to do the things these sneakers are suggested for like running or whatever course work is. Instead I’m going to be walking around my city with a camera around my neck, a sketchbook in my bag, and an eye out for interesting things. Pretty much the antithesis of athletic. I took them for a short spin last night and found them to be perfectly comfortable and lovely to wear.
I ended up with navy blue sneakers with a small hint of bright neon blue. I opted for these knowing that in a few short walks I’ll have them dirtied up to being unrecognizably colored.