Shoe Buying

I picked up new runers this week as the pair I've been using are beyond dead. The experience reminded me why I hate buying shoes.


Reason #1 why I hate buying shoes: Most stores only stock up to size ten for women. I generally take a 10.5 or, on really bad days, size 11.


Reason #2: Only one of my feet is size 10.5. That might lead you to think that reason #1 is only half as bad but as the other foot is 9.5 it actually makes shoe buying incredibly complicated. For some reason most shoe stores aren't willing to mix 'n match shoes.


Reason #3: AA width. I can cinch shoes up at the laces but the heel is pretty hard to fix - my feet either slip out the back or my heels get ripped apart from the rubbing. As I was gifted with cross country skis instead of actual feet, maybe I should wax them and head to the back country for some schussing.


Reason #4: Pronation. My feet are flat. Not flat as in "low arches" flat. Flat as in no arch, as in every part of the sole touches when I stand. Pancake flat.


Due to the above I can't buy cheap shoes as they'll kill my feet. Actually, I frequently can't buy expensive shoes as they don't fit either.


I think not enjoying buying shoes means I have to return my girl card, or at least that I'm on some sort of feminity probation. This probably isn't a good time for me to mention that I only have one purse!

Reminder Me Never to be a Race Organizer

The Troisport Joburg City Triathlon organizers are probably looking for new careers - click here for the story.

Summary:

• The police reneg on number of officers they will supply the race - from 15 to 9 and evenutally to 4 (huge deal when you're dealing with bikes vs. traffic)
• Before the event a cyclist (non-racer) is hit by a car, losing a leg and his life is in danger.
• An airplane crashes on the course. Seriously.

Heavy Breathing

After the fun I had with breathing and running this year I went to a respirologist to figure out what was wrong. The process started in July and just finished up today - long enough for me to almost forget how it all started and begin to wonder what the point of the whole process was.

Long story short - I am definitively not asthmatic. Good news as I can ditch the various unnecessary inhalers. Anyone want some Flovent??

I now have to figure out if this year's issues were simply triggered by a terrible flu or if there was something else.

I also had an allergy test today. You will all be glad to know that I am not allergic to saline solution (one of the controls).

I am, however, violently allergic to grass and cats, strongly allergic to the histamine control solution, and somewhat allergic to the other six substances they tested (dogs, feathers, weeds, trees, mites [dust] and mold). I find it amusing that I had a stronger reaction to grass and cats than I did to the histamine. I thought I was more allergic to dogs, but perhaps the dogs that set me off are some sort of dog/cat mutant cross breed.

Because I'm a geek, I found the whole process fascinating. As I'm a super geek I got my coworker to take a picture of my forearm so I could document the skin test. (I'll add the photo when she's sent it to me.)

The hives are going down (except the grass one) but I'm still suffering from the desire to make dumb jokes about essence of cat and distilled dog. I'm thinking there's an allergist in my future.

I guess I won't be including any bird feather extract in my Christmas baking.

Swim

I asked Peter this morning to give me one thing to work on when I swim on Friday.

His comments were that I have good power and endurance, I need to work on glide and balance in the water. It's great to know what I'm doing right as well as get advice on what to change. He suggested streamline kicking and working on my body position in the water when kicking off the wall. I quite like his "swim by feel" approach.

There is one downside to having asked, this now means I have to swim Friday!