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I took T. to his track meet. He had a good time. I had a nice conversation with B. Poor R. was super exhausted from being up until late last night at a wedding. And then a very nice woman talked my ear off for a while about T.’s running shoes.
A while back, T. outgrew all of his shoes, and he was pretty resistant to new ones, also, it was kind of hard to get new ones that fit because his feet are kind of long, but super high volume and wide (so we are talking high arch, thick foot, size 12 men’s and quad E / XW). I got him some “dad shoes” (Nike walking shoes) and some Rockports, and then we tackled the arch problem with a few rounds of orthotics. We are still working on all of this, because he tends to feel like his toe box is cramped no matter what you buy him, and by the time he is happy, he’s kind of swimming in the shoe. Whatever. But AJ, who runs Team Verge, wants him to not shuffle, so she made the case for better fitting running shoes, I had the long arguments with T. about listening to his coach, and assigned R. the thankless task of dragging him off to Whirlaway to buy a pair of running shoes, a pair of cross trainers, and if T. wanted to wear either of them for daily wear, a second copy of whatever he liked. They did pretty good; they came out of there with 2 cross trainers and a pair of running shoes.
The woman who talked my ear off used to work at an (unspecified) running shoe store, and has apparently bought many pairs of running shoes and understands Theory of Running Shoe. Alas, she _does not_ understand 12 EEEE. By the time you are dealing with that, your options are severely limited (OK, seriously, basically, a few styles of Nikes and New Balance). She’s trying to convince me Altra is the way to go, and I am like, does it come in widths, and she’s like, lots of styles! I’m like, whatever. Eventually, I give up on the deflections and start actively getting her to talk about how frustrating it was to work at the running shoe store and etc., because that is _clearly_ where we are going to wind up, whether I want to or not, and I agree to look into Altra later. I do, they don’t come in widths, and they top out at 16. Not a meaningful participant in choices for people with unusual feet.
Honestly, I have had it About Up to Here, with people who fall _well_ within the standard range, but who nevertheless are super picky and thus have difficulty finding something that is Perfect for Them. I get it — really, I do — but when you are a man whose feet around wide or extra wide and you have hit size 12 or above, or you are a woman who has feet that are past size 10 / Euro 41, then it is not a matter of Perfect it is Can I Fucking Get My Foot Into That. I don’t want to hear your goddamn, hey, pick a shoe with a better height or whatever. Can I Fucking Get T.’s Foot Into That without major complaints. All I Care About. AJ wanted him to not shuffle when he runs, and we succeeded in that. And then someone hunts me down in the stands to spent 40 minutes haranguing me about how I should Demand More.
No.
Just. Please. Let’s be happy here. FWIW, Whirlaway carries Altra, Altra does NOT have widths _at all_ and the lovely person helping R. and T. at Whirlaway did not bring any Altra styles out because those people know perfectly well that T.’s foot isn’t going to fit into any of them.
I feel like this is my penance for having been the source of unsolicited advice on so many occasions for other people in the past.
Oh well! I took A. to Julie’s Place for lunch. She scootered. I walked. We had a lovely time. B.’s foot continues to mend and she should be back in a week or two — took longer than expected because things were a bit more complicated than they realized at first.
T. rode his bike to Maynard to go to the Fine Arts Theatre. I forget what he went to see. So cool that he can do this! I am very pleased with his adventurous spirit and independence.
A while back, T. outgrew all of his shoes, and he was pretty resistant to new ones, also, it was kind of hard to get new ones that fit because his feet are kind of long, but super high volume and wide (so we are talking high arch, thick foot, size 12 men’s and quad E / XW). I got him some “dad shoes” (Nike walking shoes) and some Rockports, and then we tackled the arch problem with a few rounds of orthotics. We are still working on all of this, because he tends to feel like his toe box is cramped no matter what you buy him, and by the time he is happy, he’s kind of swimming in the shoe. Whatever. But AJ, who runs Team Verge, wants him to not shuffle, so she made the case for better fitting running shoes, I had the long arguments with T. about listening to his coach, and assigned R. the thankless task of dragging him off to Whirlaway to buy a pair of running shoes, a pair of cross trainers, and if T. wanted to wear either of them for daily wear, a second copy of whatever he liked. They did pretty good; they came out of there with 2 cross trainers and a pair of running shoes.
The woman who talked my ear off used to work at an (unspecified) running shoe store, and has apparently bought many pairs of running shoes and understands Theory of Running Shoe. Alas, she _does not_ understand 12 EEEE. By the time you are dealing with that, your options are severely limited (OK, seriously, basically, a few styles of Nikes and New Balance). She’s trying to convince me Altra is the way to go, and I am like, does it come in widths, and she’s like, lots of styles! I’m like, whatever. Eventually, I give up on the deflections and start actively getting her to talk about how frustrating it was to work at the running shoe store and etc., because that is _clearly_ where we are going to wind up, whether I want to or not, and I agree to look into Altra later. I do, they don’t come in widths, and they top out at 16. Not a meaningful participant in choices for people with unusual feet.
Honestly, I have had it About Up to Here, with people who fall _well_ within the standard range, but who nevertheless are super picky and thus have difficulty finding something that is Perfect for Them. I get it — really, I do — but when you are a man whose feet around wide or extra wide and you have hit size 12 or above, or you are a woman who has feet that are past size 10 / Euro 41, then it is not a matter of Perfect it is Can I Fucking Get My Foot Into That. I don’t want to hear your goddamn, hey, pick a shoe with a better height or whatever. Can I Fucking Get T.’s Foot Into That without major complaints. All I Care About. AJ wanted him to not shuffle when he runs, and we succeeded in that. And then someone hunts me down in the stands to spent 40 minutes haranguing me about how I should Demand More.
No.
Just. Please. Let’s be happy here. FWIW, Whirlaway carries Altra, Altra does NOT have widths _at all_ and the lovely person helping R. and T. at Whirlaway did not bring any Altra styles out because those people know perfectly well that T.’s foot isn’t going to fit into any of them.
I feel like this is my penance for having been the source of unsolicited advice on so many occasions for other people in the past.
Oh well! I took A. to Julie’s Place for lunch. She scootered. I walked. We had a lovely time. B.’s foot continues to mend and she should be back in a week or two — took longer than expected because things were a bit more complicated than they realized at first.
T. rode his bike to Maynard to go to the Fine Arts Theatre. I forget what he went to see. So cool that he can do this! I am very pleased with his adventurous spirit and independence.