Man Clogs...and other randomness

Lately, here in good ol' South Kakalak, we've had our first real bursts of fall weather. Well, actually it's been a bit colder than fall, but still, it's finally cool here. That change in weather invites us all to adjust our wardrobes to more fitting cool weather clothes. So tonight after work I had some errands to run and started to get dressed to go out. I didn't really feel like putting on my tennis shoes, but didn't want to go to all the effort of wearing my oxfords. Suddenly it occurred to me "Wait, it's fall...that means you can wear your clogs with your jeans!" I know, I know...man clogs...go ahead and make fun of me! It's okay, I'll accept it, but I still like them because I consider them winter's flip flops--well actually, now that I think about it, they're not really winter's flip flops, since wearing them in winter would mean you have cold heels, or, if you live somewhere where there's actually snow and winter weather, you would have cold and wet heels--anyway, I like them. It's a great way to say "Hey, look at me! I'm being casual by not wearing actual shoes, but I'm stylish enough not to go out in only tennis shoes."

Anyone who's ever worn clogs (man clogs, or otherwise) knows that walking in those is completely different than walking in pretty much any other shoes. Basically, clogs don't stay on your feet the way normal shoes do, and, unlike flip flops, you don't have a little toe thong to grab hold of to keep them in place. Walking in them is a finely tuned balancing act between forward momentum and gripping on as well as possible with your toes requiring just the right sized stride, pace and foot height when walking. Each year when I put on my clogs for the first few wearings, I have to essentially re-learn how to walk in them. It's kinda embarrassing when, after 24 years of walking, I'm forced to spend a few weeks tripping over my feet and stepping out of my shoes. The worst part training yourself to walk in clogs is the countless times you step out of them and nearly fall over. Of course, once I get through the adjustment period, I become quite comfortable in clogs again and can basically do anything in them...running, climbing things, whatever...it's just the adjustment period which sucks. Oh, the troubles I face, haha!

In other news...I'm still running. I'm so impressed with myself! Tonight, I actually made it 2 miles!!! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the furthest I've ever run in my life without stopping. It's helped that I've been running around my neighborhood a bit, which has hills, and the park I run in is flat. But it also helps that I run with a friend who continues to push me and doesn't believe me when I tell him how out of shape I am. 2 whole miles! Who would've thought?!

Can't really think what else is going on. Busy week at work this week. We're hosting a few seminars in the evenings and I'm going to ATL Wednesday night to attend a seminar. Add this on top of lots of planning for stuff going on to wrap up our year and I should be quite busy. Other than that, I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week!!! What is going on? I'll be heading up to the mountains again sometime next week, but I haven't yet decided when I'm leaving. Maybe Wednesday? But don't worry, you'll get more posts out of me before then.