Big Recycling Box in the Sky

I had to retire another pair of shoes a few weeks ago. I wanted to have a Viking funeral or a bonfire or something but then the fire department would show up followed by the police, so I chose to not do those things.

So I just took my old Nike Pegasus 30 to the recycling box at my running shop, letting them end at the place where it began. Before I started working at Fleet Feet I would show up at the weekly Monday Night Group Run event and one day the Nike rep had Pegs for us to try and a pair to give away via drawing. I so rarely win things like this so I didn't get my hopes up but I heard my name called and a few days later I went home with these dudes:

Nike Pegasus 30, men's 9 1/2 with elastic laces

These were even a favorite at my old running store in Tuscaloosa. Our Chief Running Officer always loved them because they were so soft and comfortable. Store manager Voldemort liked them because they were the shoe Nick Saban wore on the sidelines at Alabama football games, meaning Tide football fans gobbled them up when we got them in. Ol' Voldemort couldn't even pronounce Pegasus but that didn't matter as long as the cash register kept up. It's still a running joke for the First Lady and me-- we call them what he did-- Nike 'Paygus.'

My first run for them was a nine-miler on a Saturday in September, 2013. Probably a little long for their debut, but I wrote AWESOME in my running log that day, after I'd scrawled OMG! in the space for Monday's demo run. So I guess I was a fan right from the get go. They'd been making this shoe for a long time and it seemed as though they were on to something.

The Pegasus took me through the streets of Atlanta in March, 2014 for the Publix Marathon. That was the time my wife actually had to help me down off the curb so I could cross the street on our way back to the hotel.

Last ride for these old friends was a four-miler a few weeks ago on a sticky Georgia morning. 533 miles for these old foot soldiers.