Goodbye my loves

It's so hard to say goodbye.  The ravages of time and hard living took their toll and now the lifeless bodies rested on the ground, worn and tattered.

Brooks A. was one used up life.  A. Foundation was another dearly departed sole.

I played with Brooks all of 2011.  In 2012 I played with another Brooks but that particular Brooks still had life so Foundation, who had expired years earlier, took that Brooks' place at the burial.

My 2011 playmate, Brooks Addiction 4 running shoes, were coming apart at the seams, with the tread all gone and the front lip of the sole separating from the shoe and hanging down, threatening to trip me with every stride.  I threw those shoes away in January even though we'd been through so much together upon my return to running after a year-long layoff that it was hard to give the shoes up.  I buried them in the kitchen garbage bag which I set out on trash day and then immediately hurried off to work.  They were gone forever when I got back at the end of the day.

My 2012 playmate, Brooks Addiction 6 shoes, still had the front of the sole adhering to the shoe, although the tread was mostly gone and my little toes stuck out through the fabric on each side, exposed to the elements.  But I couldn't part with them yet, we'd had such good times together, so in February I threw out a better preserved, long retired pair of Asics Foundation 3 shoes instead.  Those shoes had taken me through the Marine Corps Marathon in 2002 but were size 12s and I could no longer wear them even casually as after a decade of running I am now a size 13.

The Brooks Addiction 6 pair still lives on, although its heel area is starting to separate from the shoe so perhaps that pair will be March's casualty.  We runners love our shoes so.