These Boots Are Made For Walking

The above image depicts my recently retired running shoes.

I had been using them regularly since the summer of 2007. They were kindly donated by Decathlon Surrey Quays for my “real world” triathlon from London to the Isle of Wight and, after almost four years of use and abuse, they finally came to an end during an indoor football match.

I manage to finish the game by tying them up with the cord from a team-mate’s security pass and was subsequently able to squeeze out a few more runs with the aid of duct tape but sadly recognised that they were not worth flying back from Oman with me.

In tribute to these fine shoes, below are a few experiences which they have shared with me.

Where have your favourite pair of shoes taken you? Add your comments below.

1. Got me down to 5 minutes and 4 seconds on my attempt to run a fast mile to the end of my road
2. Run up 50,000 steps at the Royal Geographical Society to the height of Mount Everest
3. Run the route of all twelve different London Underground train lines
4. Helped a team finish seventh in the 19th Wadi Bih Relay (my all-time favourite adventure race so far)
5. Cranked the pedals of my bike on semi-competitive commutes, cycle tours through e.g. France and Wales, and on many other wonderful bicycle errands around London
6. Gone through countless fields of wet clay, up slopes of slippery mud and through waist deep puddles on LDWA Challenge Events like the Gatliff Marathon
7. Carried me 50 miles from the front door of my London flat to an Essex beach
8. Alternated with bare feet whilst walking across the Wahiba Sands of Oman
9. Completed half a dozen or more ultra marathons (not that I’d call them that)
10. Kept my feet warm and, mostly, dry during my £100 hitch-hike around the UK
11. And, of course, the purpose for which they were donated, after having cycled from London to the south coast and swum across the Solent, I slipped on these magic slippers for the final run over the Isle of Wight to my friend Thom’s house for one of my most lasting memories

And no doubt many other experiences that will bring a smile to my face next time they pop into my head.
Now where have you gone in your shoes?