On-line Dating for Sneakers

Confession: I didn't run today. I'm about 90% recovered from a cold I caught from my son the other day and the potential downside of running tonight heavily outweighed the upside. This seemed like a sedentary way to celebrate Global Running Day, which I didn't even know was a holiday until four hours ago. But all was not lost: my new sneakers just arrived, lighting up my inner child with giddy delight. It's been a few years since I bought my last pair of running shoes, which given all of the changes and advancements since then means that I'm about two decades behind in sneaker years. Where to begin?

Instead of getting to know sneakers the old school way and testing them out face-to-face in a store, I searched for them on-line. I know several married couples who met on match.com, so why couldn't this work for shoes? I went to runnersworld.com/shoeadvisor, which asked me a battery of questions about my height, weight and preferences. After inputting my info, several sneaker prospects appeared with complete profiles and testimonials. I looked at my top match - Brooks Pure Flow 3 - and did what any sane prospective suitor would do: I googled it. And good thing I did, since there has since been an upgraded version that received even better reviews. As first impressions go, it's not an unattractive sneaker and there certainly is potential. However, it's still too early to tell whether this might be something serious and long term. Stay tuned for further updates on my sneakers next week!