Crumbling Shoes
I complained recently that I have not been running enough lately. Well it’s not for lack of trying.
The other day my hubby and I went to the Parque Kabah to run. We got about halfway through our first lap when the sky started to get really dark. A storm was coming. As we neared the entrance to the park, completing our first lap, the sky opened up. But instead of taking shelter under the thatched palapa roof at the entrance we kept running (don’t ask me why). Within moments the path was flooded with 3 inches of water and my running shoes were soaked!
One thing I’ve learned over my 18+ years of running is that running shoes are never the same after they get wet. So normally I will run in any weather, but will run back to my car FAST if it starts to rain. This time I screwed up and soaked my shoes.
We got home and waited for the rain to stop so we could put our shoes in the sun to dry. But it rained for most of the rest of the day. The next day it was sunny, so I put our shoes out in the sun. And then suddenly, crash, flood, it was pouring! We had the single strongest downpour I’ve ever seen and it started all in one second. I raced to shut the windows in the house. And I didn’t collect the shoes from the rain until they were well-soaked through all over again.
The next day the weather cleared and I decided I wanted to run. But my shoes were still wet. So I dug out a pair of old running shoes from the closet. They were a pair of Sauconys that I had stopped running in about 3 years ago, but for some reason they had never been thrown out or donated, they were just sitting in the closet.
I donned these old cruddy worn-out shoes and figured my run would be less than ideal because of them, but at least it would be a run. I got in the car and drove to the park.
But as I was walking into the park I had the feeling that something was stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Then I felt the same on the other shoe. Then the sensation changed and it felt like the heels of my shoes were loose and were flopping. I looked down. All of the foam that made up the heel cup of my shoes was disintegrating! With each step I was leaving a trail of foam bits. The more steps I took the more my shoes fell apart!
It took me a few minutes to accept that I wasn’t going to run that day. I made myself do my normal stretching routine. But after 10 minutes of stretches I left the park and walked back to my car, trailing foam bits the whole way.
When I got to the car I realized that the floor area of the driver’s side was covered in foam. When I got home I saw foam in the driveway. And when I got inside the house there were foam bits everywhere (and I had just vacuumed too). My husband professed that he’d seen foam all over the house and had been wondering what the heck it was.
Here’s a photo of the crumbling shoes:
Since moving to the tropics we’ve noticed that lots of foam and rubber things fall apart, especially if you don’t use them. We’ve thrown out a number of nice pairs of shoes and boots that we had expected to last for many more years. Tropical heat somehow wrecks rubber and foam.
My regular running shoes have since dried out. They don’t feel as comfortable as they did pre-rain, but at least they are intact. I’ve got a good friend who is bringing me new running shoes from the U.S. in a couple of weeks, so I’m looking forward to that (can’t buy my brand here)!
October 8th, 2008 21:24
First – I just got new running shoes in USA. Now I hope to run.
Second – Yes I have notices the disentigrating thing too. We went to play tennis the other day and the grips rubbed off in our hands on 3 of 4 rackets!
October 8th, 2008 23:39
We had the same thing happen, we left 2 pair of sneakers in our lockup closet at the condo one year when we went back to the US for the summer. Came back, put them on, noticed pieces of foam everywhere and while walking down the stairs I realized I was walking on my heels – the whole back had disintegrated. Heat + Humidity + Foam = Not Good.
October 9th, 2008 11:04
Stop grumbling! I have UK size 11 feet. Forget not being able to buy a brand I want, I can’t buy a pair of shoes in Mexico, of any type, that I can fit my bloody huge feet into!!!
🙂
October 9th, 2008 11:14
Yes, hubby complains that his squash racket grips crumble too!
Gary, I’m not grumbling, I’m crumbling HAHA!
October 11th, 2008 08:39
Crumbling shoes….made me chuckle and brought back memories. I remember pulling a pair of leather pumps out of the closet in Cancun that were black. After only a couple of months they had turned green with mold. We didn’t have A/C so the humidity did them in.
October 11th, 2008 10:23
Ahh Yes! Green pumps, I’ve had some of those too!