a rather pointless rant about shoes

[magicicada]

i am shopping for running shoes. this follows a visit from my mom in which she spent vast amounts of each day doing urban hiking. the last day of her visit, i went with her on a walk around the museum grounds which took us a bit over an hour. we were both a bit tired at the end, but my feet were killing me. she went on to do another hike after i had gone to class. i will be taking all my classes distance ed next semester and should have a good amount of time for walking around the lake etc. i want to work up to running (it could happen) and most walking shoes don't seem to have the same level of 'bounciness' or cushioning so dear to us who really need to walk off the weight. this is all a long introduction to my rant. i have been shopping extensively on zappos.com and to a lesser extent in local stores. i have almost selected my shoes, once i can stop gagging at the price, but have been very frustrated by the fact that i have had to rule out 95% of the sneakers on the market. ok, this is how it is. if i am paying upwards of $50 (which seems a must for really really good shoes):

-those shoes are going to look sharp
-they will not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES be white
-if there is pink ANYWHERE, you can give them to your daughter. i am a grown woman and do not need my little pony shoes.
-although they cannot be pink or white, they should not be ugly. surely there is a range of colors between the aforementioned pink/white monstrosities and orange/lime green.
-if you're going to start naming shoe colors after universities (aka carolina blue), you had better have a gorgeous red shoe sitting right next to it or it will rot in its box.
-for that matter, any shoe color best described as 'baby' or 'light' may also rot.
-grey is less ugly, but also pointless.

i am looking for:

RED
PURPLE
BLACK
DARK BLUE
DARK GREEN
preferably in vivid and violent combination.

this is what i expect in this price range. i have had to move from the almost $50 range to the 80-100 range to find a modest selection of this shoe type on zappos.com. i have not found *anything* in local stores. oh yes, and just to be really fussy, i don't do nike. yes, i know about their custom shoes and although it makes my heart go pitter patter, i got my standards.

now, i think this type of pickiness in my shopping is a fairly feminine characteristic, so why is it that the shoe companies think feminine means pink? it seems to me that what women want is selection. has no one heard of the female love of shopping?

i *might* pick up some dark grey new balance shoes, but they do not seem quite so bouncy. this seems to be the current frontrunner , although i am still dithering.

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this post brought to you by the society for procrastination of 10-15 page papers.

Comments

[arielblue.livejournal.com]

You might try sierratradingpost.com -- I have found some excellent bargains on shoes there. I found the most fabulous hiking shoes (a pair of Chacos) for $50-ish, marked down from $160-some.

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

oooh.. those are some mighty nice prices *clicky clicky* a little on the dull side, but the prices do reduce the pain somewhat.

[arielblue.livejournal.com]

Their stock changes around pretty frequently too, so if you don't see what you want, hold off for a bit and keep looking.

[pandorable.livejournal.com]

have you looked at the men's shoes?

[gardenwaltz.livejournal.com]

i'm never quite sure that i have gotten the right size in men's shoes. i'm always afraid that it feels ok, but is messing up my toes or something. i don't really know if men & women have different shaped feet or if men's feet just tend to be bigger.

[fizzgig-bites.livejournal.com]

I have liked the Reebok Walk DMX in plain black. Last time I bought them, they were $65. I've worn them for years. I recent got a different sneaker and have since regreted it.

[tealfroglette.livejournal.com]

i read in "walking" magazine or something about the benefits of walking vs. running sneakers. I bought some avias based on the different websites and surveys and research and i love them. I now actively pick avias over new balance and anything else i used to wear which were mostly basketball style nikes.

ps, none of mine are pink they are navy BLUE! and i got the last three (two for one sale and then a super run to the register get one for 15.00) from shoe carnival i think.

[tealfroglette.livejournal.com]

the shoes were all originally 65 or more, but because they were 'dark' in color and it was spring in daytona beach, i got the two navy blue pair that look very similar, but are slightly different for about 30 a pair. i found a coupon in the store on teh floor that gave me 5.00 off each pair if i got two pair or more and they let me use that with the buy one get one free. :) Then there was that 15.00 blast in teh store and toad ran up there and got them for me.