Hints of spring and pleasant running

I had my first nice-weather shuffle of the year yesterday. It will get cold and snowy again before spring really arrives, but we’re all beginning to get that annual feeling that winter will, finally, eventually, one of these days, not too many weeks from now, play itself out.

I broke out these new shoes to mark the occasion. They’re an old an unexciting model of workhorse training flat, but possessing a Fred Astaire-like sense of grace and style, I accessorized them with the fluorescent yellow LockLaces. Elegant, I’m sure you’ll agree.

I also tried a new pair of shorts, which I actually bought for their little pockets—meant for the GU or similar energy-boosting goodies carried by trail runners, but perfect for a shuffling old man’s specs and emergency flares. An unlooked-for feature is a sort of boxer liner rather than a brief. This is supposedly to reduce chafing, always a good thing, but they seem to do at the price of making you feel that your knickers are in a twist. Not necessarily a great trade-off. My form is unattractive enough already.

Finally, I plunged for the lighter shoes mentioned in the post linked above—the red ones. But their lesser heel-lift has left my left achilles arching its eyebrow in that Gallic way tendons have, and I’ve set them aside at least until I’m better stretched out and the weather is truly hot. They may turn out to be permanently aspirational. Or do you think they might just need yellow laces?