For the last year to the day, I’ve run in the same pair of shoes. I think they cost something like 50 dollars. They’ve done close to a thousand miles. Holes showed up in the toes almost 4 months ago. The bottoms have long been worn smooth. They’ve been chewed on by four different dogs and pissed on by at least one them. Every week since June, they took the train from Los Angeles to Riverside. God knows how many times I threw them in a rage because they were the closest thing to pick up. All I know is that my walls have plenty of skidmarks. I soaked them in the rain and 100 degree heat. I have been known to purposely run through puddles. They’ve never been washed and they’ve definitely never been “put away nicely.” And my feet feel just fucking fine. With this being said, I think it is time for a change, even if my feet do feel fine. I think something like the Vessi waterproof sneakers will be a great improvement to my old running shoes.
Running is a multi-billion dollar industry. This is despite it being the most basic sport in existence. People have fancy heart monitors, energy goo, gym memberships and fucking special running socks. They use two hundred dollar shoes. All of this because it’s a buffer between getting down and dirty and hitting the road. That’s the masturbation that Tyler Durden was talking about. Self-destruction…
I’m not the best at a lot of things. Most of the time, the stuff people talk about makes my head spin and I get confused pretty easily. But I make due with what I’ve got. Arguably, I’m doing a better job than most. I meant to get new shoes a long time ago but mainly I was too busy running to get around to it. I probably would have kept going for a lot longer, getting everything out of what I had available, if someone else hadn’t gotten me a new pair. And really, that’s reason I’ve got three separate jobs that Ivy League grads have gone out for and been passed over or why I’ve got a better Alexa rank than thousands of bloggers with more of a right to an audience than I.
For the next year, stop thinking about all the stuff you need before you can start and just act. It doesn’t matter that you smoke or you don’t have the right shoes or that you’re tired or you’ve got too much school work. If you wanted it to happen, it would happen. Being smart or talented or having the right equipment–none of that is all that rare. But to get up do a thousand miles or punched in the face or write a hundred pages or strike a deal or read a book or make a phone call without anyone telling you to? That’s almost unheard of. So stop preparing and start working, stop talking and start walking.
