Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Welcome to the Family

[Edited to add: if you're not interested in my Pace Glove obsession, feel free to move right along. You've been warned!!]

Workout: rest

On this my rest day, I took a walk in my old Pace Gloves.

Wait, did I say old? I mean NEW PACE GLOVES!!! 

[I just got a very strong urge to stand up and tell you that "YOU GET A PACE GLOVE! YOU GET A PACE GLOVE! WE ALL GET PACE GLOVES!" Oprah-style but alas, no]


My knees are FREAKING ME OUT in this picture, mostly because they're fifty shades (heh) darker than the bottom of my legs. Even after hours spent attempting to even out my compression sock tan, this is what I'm stuck with.

To understand this sudden buy, let's back up a bit.

One day, I woke up and realized everything I own is purple.

Wait, let's back up even more.

One day, I woke up and realized everything I owned was black, white, grey, and nature-colored (navy, forest green, etc.). I needed an injection of color into my wardrobe and decided that of the brighter options available, purple was the least offensive. I bought myself a purple t-shirt and sweatshirt and called it good.

Well, I guess people who give gifts decided I'm dashingly handsome in purple clothing, because suddenly I was drowning in it. At times this past winter I could be found wearing purple Michelin Man shoes, a heavily purple-accented down jacket, and a purple shirt/whatever to really tie it all together and cement my status as crazy resident Grimace (THAT'S what that thing's called?!).

The breaking point came when an acquaintance called me a "vision in purple." Shit, they're onto me! I immediately took to the internet to find something bright and, most importantly, not purple. A frighteningly easy task, I might add. The internet's a crazy place.

Since I'm too obsessed with running, I immediately googled Pace Gloves so I could see if Merrell had come out with any new and interesting colors. Before I clicked on the website, however, the phrase "Pace Glove 2" caught my eye. "Whatever could this mean?!" I exclaimed.

What it means is that Merrell has ruined the Pace Glove forever the Pace Glove got a makeover!

Apparently Merrell did a pretty good job of listening to user feedback and keeping the new model largely unchanged. However, the main difference seems to be that they made them longer, and based on the reviews I read this longer fit makes the shoes looser on the foot. This is the very last thing I want. One of the things I love most about Pace Gloves is how closely they hug my foot. They're not uncomfortably tight and there's actually a lot more room in the toebox than most other shoes, but they feel very much glued to your feet (I promise "glued to your feet" is a pleasant and not terrifying feeling).

Also, the new color schemes are vomit-inducing.

So on the verge of panic, I started scouring the internet for size 8 Pace Gloves. Seems that's a very popular size, so my color options were limited.

See if you can spot the new addition!

Recovering purple-holic

The orangies are my new Pace Gloves.

Before you go and ask, "but Jeano, two-thirds of your Pace Gloves are still purple! Are you going to remedy this?", the answer is YES. Because I bought another pair. Blue and red. Coming soon to a Jeano near you. At $60 a pop, I couldn't resist (it turns out Ebay is a wonderful thing).

The timing of this purchase is fortuitous since I'm running a marathon in a week at a half and the traction's starting to wear off my most current pair.

The shoe on the left is my oldest pair. Snow running spared my current pair, but you can never have too much traction, right? Don't answer that.

I may still wear my current shoes for the race because they're a lot softer than the new pair, but we'll see how the new guys fare this week.

Questions:

  • When was the last time you bought new shoes?
  • Have you stocked up on a specific shoe that's been replaced by a newer version?
  • Have you ever woken up and realized everything you own is the same color? My other color obsession was orange when I was in middle school and high school. Seems I'm falling back into my old ways.

8 comments:

  1. I love your compression sock tan. For the win! No socks on marathon day and you should be evened out, maybe? I have yet to stock up on a pair of shoes, but I think it might be something I would do if I liked something that much. For now I am waiting to get a pair of the shoes I want that are not purple.
    I am all about green! Have you seen me post pictures of my car lately? My laptop cover, laptop bag, lunch bag, and many more are all the same color!

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    1. Um, I blame you for me waking up this morning in a panic because the tennis/ski store I was in (in my dream, of course) had a limited selection of running shoes AND THEY DID NOT HAVE PACE GLOVES. I needed to have pace gloves but this store did not have them.
      Yes, I blame you and your proselytizing of the Pace Glove on that dream. And, BTW-Is it totally weird I am having dreams about running shoes another blogger uses and I don't know this blogger?

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    2. That may be the strangest but best thing I've ever heard. My goal to get everyone in a pair of Pace Gloves is working!!!

      Except not. I'd rather other people NOT wear them so I can a) continue to get compliments on my cool rock climbing shoes and b) not get blamed for people breaking their bodies from running in them.

      But, you know, they're pretty fun to walk in...

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  2. Yeah, stop hiding the compression sock tan. And your love of running, for that matter. LOUD AND PROUD, confess it. YOU LOVE TO RUN!!!! [hehehe...antagonism is my specialty.]

    Yes, before we moved to Singapore (where running sneakers are, literally, 150% of the price of their US counterparts), I was at the Adidas outlet, and found my beloved sneakers (the "old" model, aka, the one I was still wearing) for half price. I bought 3 pairs!!

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    1. No way, you're an Adidas gal? I didn't realize anyone ran in their shoes! Or does "was still wearing" mean you've moved on to something else? I was so obsessed with Adidas when I was younger (who wasn't?), but I can't say that I ever thought those ubiquitous bubble sandals OR the black/white-stripped soccer shoes were very comfortable.

      I certainly didn't hide my compression sock at work today and... there were comments. Fortunately, I work with a number of people who are far stranger than I am so I took it like a champ.

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    2. Erm...yes. I still wear Adidas sneakers. 10 years ago, I was fitted into their Supernova Plus, which I wore until they discontinued it. When my last pair was totally shot and pried from my sweaty grasp, I tried on a bunch of other shoes...and still like the Adidas best (new model, obviously). Something about them is just nice for my feet. Although now, I'm putzing around with the Brooks Pures a bit, too. And I wear Salomons on the trails.

      And I ADORE the "bubble" sandals - I call them nubbly sandals. If you check out the photo from last week's Workout Round-Up, you'll see them completing my outfit. We don't wear shoes inside (Chinese thing), but I hate to be barefoot - so the nubbly sandals are my "inside only" shoes. I wear them constantly, and still LOVE them. What can I say? I guess I'm still living in the '90s... :)

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  3. Yes. Everything I own for work is black or white Lots of black pants, lots of white tops. And thats basically it.
    For running, everything I own is hot pink. Hot pink tops, hot pink shorts. I basically look like as 12 year old girl who is trying to dress like Barbie.

    Like the new kicks!!!

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    1. Oh yeah, you made me realize that when it comes to running clothes, everything I own is actually incredibly bright/patterned. Even I have a pink (well, there's SOME pink) running top, which I normally wouldn't be caught dead in. I'm definitely all about neon when it comes to workout stuff, although I'm pretty sure the rest of the world has moved on.

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