SOME things ARE simpler in China

So I'm at that point where I need to replace my running shoes. I started asking around, "Where do you buy your running shoes here?" Apparently everyone has suitcases that are way bigger than mine because they all looked at me as if I were a complete idiot and said "I stock up when I go back home". Hmmm. There just are not any stores that serve serious runners here. Well, I could go on and on about how difficult it can be to find the simplest things in China, (and truly the irony is that they are all MADE here, so why can't we just buy them here???) but I will spare you the whine-fest. However the challenge remains: find my brand, find my style and find my size.

I'm a Mizuno girl, not the most widely stocked brand even in the States so I was starting to get a little antsy. Lucky for me there is a (as in only one, in a city of 20 million, but hey, that's all I need, right?) Mizuno store and it's even on our side of the river. One down. I managed a Saturday afternoon to myself and headed out to check out what they had. Not my favorite style, but at least they have other acceptable alternatives. Two down, sort of. Probably more like 1 1/2 down. One to go. I wear a 9 running shoe, a very common size in the States. It converts to a 40 or 41 European, depending on the shoe and as a whole, most Chinese stores do not stock above a 39. Sure enough that is the case here. Okay, so I decide that I am willing to try a men's shoe (I'd rather try my luck with a shoe of the brand I love and trust, rather than start experimenting with a different brand, in a situation where it is probably impossible to find a salesperson that can tell me anything at all about the shoes in their store.) In my head I am trying to remember back to my days in the Herman's shoe department: a 9 women's US equals what in men's? I turned to the sales guy (who thankfully spoke pretty good English) and asked him "what is the men's equivalent of a women's 40?" As soon as I asked it, I realized what a silly question that was! And I really had to chuckle both at myself and the look on his face. It said "I understand your words but they are making no sense to me." (I think it is the face that I permanently wear with my mother-in-law these days!) A 40 is a 40 is a 40! How simple!

So maybe I'm taking a pretty big risk by trying a men's shoe, but the sad fact is that I need to replace my shoes 3 training runs ago so I feel like I have no choice. I'm still not enough of a runner to understand when my shoes are dead until they are DEAD and I now only have 4 weeks until my race. It could be worse, last year with our move home from Malaysia I was so out of touch with my equipment that I ended up replacing my shoes one week before the Monumental Half! I was so scared that I had ruined my chances for a good race but then I beat my goal time by over a minute. So maybe my new training strategy will be to use my shoes to the point where using them feels like I am running with boards strapped to my feet, only then buy new ones and fly like the wind! Yeah, you're right: probably not such a good idea! I'm off to give the new ones a try. Wish me luck and Happy Running!