Who would've thought.

As a runner, I tend to beat up my feet. As a female, I tend to be drawn towards shoes--typically the strappier and cuter, the better (and generally the worse they look on my feet). Therefore, you can imagine my surprise when I proudly took in my beat-up running shoes to the local running store for some advice, and the first words out of his mouth is: "You are wearing the wrong size."

Let me back up.

My years of running have generally been brought to you by the nearest athletic shop to me at the time. Dick's, Modell's, Foot Locker...as I moved away from urban malls and began new commutes, Sports Authority became the main hub of resource. However, while the new job and new commute has drastically reduced my gasoline purchases, it has not brought me close to any shoe store or athletic store of any kind.

There is a store in Doylestown that I have known about--however, when I was driving by Sports Authority day in and day out, it was hard to justify a 20-minute drive out of my way for a pair of shoes, especially when the pair I had been getting work fine. Now that I'm 20 minutes away from any store, I figured I may as well head up to Doylestown and see what they could tell me.

Apparently I wear the wrong size.

And my shoes, which I have proudly logged 350 miles, looked to him to be more around 500-600 miles (apparently I am a "pounder").

I informed him, politely but surely, that I have always worn a size 8.

"But not in Brooks." I mumbled something about black toenails and he looked at me and I shut my mouth.

And he brought me out the new Brooks shoes. In a size 8.5. Despite the fact they looked like boats, they were extremely comfortable and I had room to wiggle my toes.

I guess you learn something new every day. I left the shoe shop with a pair of shoes that fit, and as a reward, a new sports bra and a cute running top (half off, of course).