More than a pair of shoes…
This is a post I’ve been trying to write for a few weeks. I’ve been planning it out in my head for a while, but it’s been difficult to put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard as it were.
It’s about a pair of shoes. But it’s also about more than a pair of shoes.
It will probably come as no surprise to many of my friends that I’m writing about a pair of shoes. I’ve been eating, drinking, sleeping and dreaming about shoes for most of my life. Usually red ones. With a lovely heel. And straps.
But I digress.
These shoes are not heels. They are not red leather. They do not match my work suit. They are running shoes. My new Reebok Women’s Premier Road Plus KFS VI Running Shoes in sky and silver to be exact. They were ordered specially for me by the lovely Michael at Reebok. Or “that cool dude Michael” if you are my four year old son. Anyway, they are very cool. They fit great and they feel great, but they also look great. They even manage to make my very large feet look almost petite and refined.
I’ve been testdriving them for the past few weeks - well test-walking actually. They’ve probably got a good 50 kilometres under their soles by now. And they are great. I actually like them better than another brand that I bought earlier this year - under significant testing and podiatrist recommendation - before Ironjack was born. The Reeboks are seriously comfortable and my new orthotics fit into them perfectly. Better than the aforementioned shoes actually - I can now run and walk without squeaking my way down the road! They also have this fantastic, almost stretchy webbing across the shoe, kind of along the hinge that your toes make during the walking/running motion. The theory is that they stretch as you foot changes shape as you run - and also as your foot swells during running. Regardless of the theory, they actually work, I think that’s what makes them so comfortable. In fact they are so comfortable, I’m wearing them all the time! They don’t quite match my best client suit, but I’m sure I can find a way.
Anyway, you’re probably wondering why that was so hard to write. That part wasn’t. It’s the next bit I’m worried about.
One of the best things about these shoes is not the fit, the colour or the look. It’s the fact that these shoes help raise awareness of breast cancer. And that’s important to me right now.
A very close friend of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer around mid-April.
She’s around the same age as me, fit, healthy, generous, kind and gorgeous. She had some of her breast removed in May. The operation went very well and the surgeon is confident he got it. Originally, our friend was just going to have some basic radiotherapy and theoretically that was going to be the end of her cancer tale. However, further testing revealed that the cancer was a very aggressive form and was going to require a much more aggressive treatment. She has now started a six month course of chemo, which is taking a toll. She has already been hospitalised with a severe throat infection as the chemo has completely destroyed her immune system. The chemo will be followed by radiotherapy. So she literally has the next nine months mapped out in terms of spending days and nights in hospital. She also runs her own business and has a beautiful daughter, two fantastic step-children and an amazing husband.
This shouldn’t be happening to her. But it is.
I was devastated when her husband rang to tell me she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a number of big deadlines and lots of work to do, but I was a write-off. I couldn’t focus. I was so angry that this should be happening to them.
I drove to the pool, jumped into the 50 metre pool and swam two kilometres. The first time I had ever swum two kilometres freestyle. A week later I swam the King of the Bays, 2.8 kilometres in appalling conditions. I fought a lot of demons on those swims, but mainly I just focused on my friend.
My breast cancer story gets even more personal. My Nana found a lump in her breast just before Easter probably nearly 20 years ago. She had both her breasts removed within a few days. She’s still going strong. But it transpired that her mother died of beast cancer. Until then we had never known.
I have them all with me every day or every training run. Nothing I’m going through can even begin to match what my friend is living through every day. If she can fight this - and she is and she will - I can bloody well do Ironman.
That’s the story of the shoes. They’re going for their first run tomorrow.