Waddle, waddle

As a result of spending waaay too much time with Sandy I have begun my slow decent into becoming Sandy. Thus you may not be surprised to learn that I have become a runner and have now signed up to run the Stockholm Marathon in June. Only after signing up did I learn that the biggest party that SSE holds is the night before the race, but since it cost 108 bucks to sign up and there's no money-back policy, I'll have to just find an appropriate balance of partying the night before.

However, I am not a runner yet due to two main reasons: first, it dumped a foot of snow on us this past weekend so the entire city is slippery and gross; second, my running shoes were casualties of the lack of space in my bag and I have no shoes. So I set out on a quest to find a decent pair of runners that wouldn't cost me an arm in a leg (don't worry, this won't turn into a rant like Terry's about how great European shopping is - I promise). I went to the Swedish version of Sportchek (Stadium) but after being ignored by salespeople I learned that they had crap for selection and no shoes even remotely close to my size, which is odd for a nation of tall people. I finally found the sole running store in Stockholm and went yesterday to get a pair. They were awesome and quickly helped me find the pair I needed. But to find the pair they needed to see me run and video tape my feet.

Now do not fret, just because I'm slowing becoming Sandy does not mean that I will soon be running like I have a stick up my ass. However, as the video tape showed and the salesperson so nicely put "You run like Charlie Chaplin". Which basically sounded to me like "You run like a duck". And its the terrible truth, I run like a duck. I've always considered myself reasonably athletic and pretty decent at most sports but to actually see my feet when I run and to find out that I run like a duck really was a blow. Apparently this is a genetic thing, so thanks Mom and Dad, but it can be dealt with. I will forever run like a duck but my pronation during running - yes, I am a pronator too - has been corrected with the appropriate shoes now.

So now I'm ready to go. I will never ever ever wear those little running shorts people wear but I now have a good pair of shoes. Let's hope that helps in keeping up with Sandy and somehow propels me the 42Km that I have so blindly signed up for.

(PS - Running a marathon has been a bit of a goal of mine so I wasn't exactly tricked into this, I just thought I would work my way up to it with a half-marathon first)