The Journey of a Pair of Shoes

If you workout as much as my group does, you tend to burn through shoes about every four months.  At the beginning of this journey, Marisa imparted these statistics to me and I was skeptical.  Four months, that's all? But she was dead on. Every four months almost to the day, my shoes alert me that they are tired and about to give up the ghost.  My knees start hurting, my back aches, my heels feel on fire and I check the calendar to find that four months have indeed gone by.

Yesterday after Step class, I was stretching my aching hip flexer out on a mat in the gym and as I grasped my ankles and stretched forward, I contemplated my shoes. They are an ordinary pair of Brooks, still look pretty good with their silver and aqua coloring, but they are ready to be retired to the back of the closet. No doubt they are tired.  In their time they have:

• Stomped, stepped, climbed, and grapevined through many a Step class.
• Cha-cha'ed, salsa'ed, and rhumba'ed through many a Zumba class, including a two hour Zumba dance marathon.
• Slapped over and over again on the treadmill.
• Ran their first steps along the Cape Fear River river.
• Ran countless sprints up and down the gym.
• Supported me while I held hundreds of planks.
• Supported me while I lifted countless weights.
• Supported me as I flipped a 367 pound tire 18 times in 100 degree weather.
• Dug down deep to help me pull my trainer up and down a parking lot with straps around my waist.
• Kicked over and over in Kickboxing and Kenpo.
• Climbed and descended, climbed and descended over and over the stairs outside of my gym.
• Swung back and forth on the paddles of the elliptical and the bike countless rotations.
• Pushed and pulled me meters and meters on the rowing machine. 
• Jumped back and forth through every hateful burpee.
• Held me steady on the stability ball through every crunch.
• Traveled gratefully into the locker room five days of every week at the end of a workout.
• Bounced around every weekday in the gym bag that is a permanent accessory on my shoulder.

I'd say they've earned their retirement.