A few set backs this week: the old trainers have really passed it and started to cause me a lot of pain. This, combined with a lot of tiring travel for work and the fact that I picked up a cold during my visit to London, meant training took a back seat and the few runs I managed were on the light side.
Saturday came around and I resolved to take my trainer problem in hand by visiting Brussels' only running shop, Jogging Plus.
Evidently they take their running, and their shoe selling pretty seriously in Brussels and the conversation went something like this.
Me: "Hello, I'm running a marathon and I need new trainers, please can you help me."
Pony-tailed Sales Assistant: "You have run a marathon before?"
M: "Yes"
PTSA: "And you have your old trainers here?"
M: "No, but I can show you which ones they are on your stand and I was pretty happy with them."
PTSA: "I need to see the trainers you have been wearing. You are running a marathon, you need good shoes, this is not a joke, you need to have the right trainers."
M: "But I don't have them with me and I would really like to buy some trainers today."
PTSA: "When you run in the old trainers, they wear away. Looking at them will help us to choose the new ones. Until I see them, I cannot help you. You will come back with your trainers next week, goodbye."
He turned and walked away and I went home, tail between my legs. I was fairly shocked to be ejected from the shop so resolutely - didn't he want my custom!?
Nothing opens in Brussels on a Sunday, so Monday came around and I went back to the shop with my old trainers - Asics Gel Stratus - and prepared to face the Snooty Pony Tailed Sales Assistant for a second time.
Sadly, he wasn't working and I showed my shoes to an older, much more helpful man who informed me that my old trainers were worn evenly, which means I have a normal stride and don't need corrective trainers. He also - very kindly - highlighted the wideness of my foot and recommended the Mizuno range, which apparently have "more room in the front" for fat-footers.
And so, having had my feet inspected closely, run up and down the shop several times and tried on three different pairs of shoes, I left with the Mizuno Wave Ultima trainers and a pair of Falke running socks.
The second shop assistant was much nicer than the first but did launch in to a long spiel about how the New York Marathon was one of the world's most difficult, "much harder than other marathons" because of the bridges and the end in Central Park. "It will be harder than the ones you have run before," he said.
Great! So not that positive a week on the training but a few amusing escapades and hilariously, the Falke socks are labelled left and right, in case you forget which foot is which...
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