Directions, Schmections

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go." -Dr. Seuss

I've never had a problem following rules. In fact, I enjoyed following the rules laid out for me throughout my childhood and adolescence; I wasn't one of these rebellious teenagers. However, when it comes to following directions and I typically don't. For example, I recently purchased one of those stand-up remote controlled tower fans because apparently Virginia apartments don't believe in ceiling fans like those of Florida and so instead of sweating my a** off each night, I decided in addition to the thermostat set at 72 degrees, I'd also require a fan. I don't typically get a lot of sleep so the few that I do get better be good. But I digress... the purpose of my mentioning the fan was due to the fact that the pieces seemed simple enough that I should have been able to put it together without much issues, right? Wrong. I ended up having to take the whole thing apart and finally utilize the printed directions that came in the box. You would think that I could have saved myself the 15-20 minutes, had I only taken the time to look at those directions the first time around but nooooo, I decided that I didn't need them and tossed them aside; only to have to come back them a little later.

I have a habit of doing this... if something seems simple enough, I assume I can just do it (like Nike ::wink:: ok, bad joke) without issue. Like running... the only thing that I need to do is throw on a part of workout clothes, running shoes and grab a bottle of water, right? Wrong....

I haven't been running for all that long and the majority of running that I've done has been indoors. Hellooooo cardio cinema! I can count one hand how many times I've run outside. I found that I'm kinda doing this by the seat of my pants. Up until recently, I haven't read anything about proper stretching techniques or even the basics for running. Most of the information that I have has come from my friend, Amy and a WHOLE lot of trial and some error.

Looking back, I'm pretty sure it would be more beneficial to actually try to go about things the right way to avoid making the mistake. I say this like I've made a ton of costly mistakes and thankfully, I haven't. I did however almost spend a good chunk of money on a pair of customized Nike running shoes before I even tried them on. I didn't even know if they were the right kind for my foot. I assumed they were. They were made by Nike, super light and listed under the "women's running" category, so wouldn't you think that they would be the right shoe? Wrong. First of all my dumb behind almost purchased these customized shoes online before I even tried them on in the store and they weren't going to be cheap. Thankfully, a friend just happened to ask if I'd tried them on yet, when I showed her a picture of the shoes that I was planning on a purchasing and it made me stop and think... I had not. And what's scarier is that it never occurred to me to. I'm pretty sure Nike isn't going to let me return a customize fluorescent colored pair of shoes that have "Amy Kay" stitched on them... so, basically I would have been stuck like chuck with a pair of shoes that I couldn't really use for their intended purpose.

Although, I normally like do things without direction/instruction, this is one activity that I can't afford to do that with. So, I've started reading some running blogs, met with my personal trainer at the gym and actually went to a running store to get fitted for the proper running shoes for my feet. Apparently, I overpronate... who knew?!

The shoe that almost was... pretty, yes. Functional, hell no!