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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

New shoes and JOB SCARE

Last night our wonderful landlords took us out to dinner at River 127, a restaurant atop the Weston in Canal Place. The dining room overlooks the Mississippi River and the French Quarter. It's a lovely view, especially when the sun set and the lights started to come on across the city. Looking over the pattern of lights reminded me of the days following Hurricane Katrina when lights in the city were such a sign of hope. At first the nights were nearly pitch black; then more and more areas would light up at night.
I had crab cakes, followed by brandy at the landlords'. Of course we live in a double so...we had drinks next door. We always joke about finding our way home later and "don't drink and drive". We adore our landlords.
My news shoes also arrived yesterday! I haven't used them yet because they showed up right after I finished a 10-mile. So I can't review them yet. But they do fit, although you can see in this picture that they are a little longer and a little more narrow compared to my Nike Craps (I renamed them). They felt great when I put them on - all new-shoe-squishy - but I'm worried about the narrow toe. I have super wide feet. I'll give a full review after I try them!

While I'm talking shoe allow me to explain my bitterness with my Nikes. I am disappointed because I was persuaded to buy this expensive shoe because supposedly the wide toe box would fit my wide foot. Well - it would, if I didn't have long feet. Apparently the toe box is the same on all shoe sizes and the length is only adjusted in the body of the shoe. (You can actually see in the picture that the toe area looks really short.) That means that my foot starts widening before the shoe does - therefore major pinching! I couldn't really tell until I ran in them: the first time I wore them my feet were covered in blood blisters because of the pinching and unfinished rough edges inside the shoe. That's kind of bad, but what upset me is that at about 300 miles the sole was totally worn off. I'm running on subsole now. I just expect longer life from a shoe, that's all.
What running shoes do you wear - and which ones have been a disappointment?
Anyway. Back to my JOB SCARE! I finally was invited to apply for the clinical position I really really want in my company. I applied last week. Last night I got an automatic email telling me "thanks for applying, we're looking at other candidates who meet our qualifications"! I freaked out! I've been specifically groomed for this job! Of course I immediately forwarded it to my district manager. He's a good guy, so I assumed he would have personally called me if I'd been passed over. Well, I got a call from him in about a half hour. He was sort of laughing - it turns out that I was automatically rejected for not meeting the requirements for the job. I answered "no" to the "have you been a manager for at least one year" question and was kicked out of the system. To get me back in he called the clinical supervisor and got him to re-write the job requirements! So now I'm eligible again but I had to re-apply this morning. So back to square one here. At least I got practice being turned down, so if I DON'T get the job I'm already kind of prepared for bad news!

5 comments:

  1. I have asics (not sure which one) but I have super narrow feet- so I actually get the narrow sized ones and still have to lace lock them and pull them really tight. I like them enough that I've bought the same shoe three times in a row though.

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  2. Glad you got the job scare thing figured out. I am sure you got that sick to your stomach feeling when you got the auto-reject!

    I run in Mizuno's & love them. I have super narrow feet and they seem to be a narrower shoe, so I love them.

    I am also a Nike-hater. I trained & ran my first marathon in Nike's. From the get go they gave me blisters. I had been running in Mizuno's but was told they probably don't provide enough cushion for marathon training so was advised to change shoes. Well, the guy that sold me the shoes highly recommended them. We struck up a conversation during the shoe buying process & ended up dating for awhile. he later confessed that he sold me the Nike's because they were the most expensive shoes. He didn't work on commission so there was no reason for him to do that. I should have dropped him like a bad habit then. Oh well. Lesson learned. No more Nike's for this girl!

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  3. OMG! That's exactly how I felt about my Nikes. They have ZERO cushion, it's like running barefoot, and the insides are just layers of cut rubber and fabric. I had been warned not to buy shoes that aren't from a "running" company, but I was so up-sold on these that I gave in. Huge mistake! My feet are literally layers of blisters and blood blisters.
    Sad and ridiculous about the salesguy-boyfriend. At least you got some inside info out of it, right?

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  4. Glad you got the job application situation fixed, I hate those automated systems that just kick you out if you answer one question wrong. What happened to taking in the big picture of someones work experience? Corporate crap.

    I'll be curious to hear how the shoes work out. I've had the best luck lately with Brooks & Mizuno for shoes. I love the Brooks Adrenalines but last time I went to my local running store they were out of my size, so I got the Mizuno Alchemys instead and LOVE them.... I ran Boston in them actually. Great shoe if you need one with support like I do.

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  5. Update after a quick run...SO FAR I'm IN LOVE!!!

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