Introducing the FrankenShoe
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
This last weekend Boston (but more accurately, the entire East Coast) got hit with our first big winter snow storm.
In preparation for the storm, and with the intentions of not letting a few feet of the fluffy white stuff getting in the way of my Ironman training, I dragged my butt down to the local hardware store for some new winter running gear. Sheet metal screws.
Yeah. Screws.
I remember back when KT the PT wrote about screwing her shoes last winter, and decided to figure out what she was raving about. I’ve seen a lot of people rock YakTrax, but I’ve also seen them get pretty torn up by lots of running on asphalt, so they were out of the question.
Running in the snow has never been an issue, but when the sidewalks get packed down with snow and then it melts and refreezes, it isn’t pretty. It pretty much forces me to run in the street or hug the sidewalk, taking tiny little strides and hoping that I go flying on my butt and crack my head open. Neither sounds very appealing, right?
14 screws in each shoe and a speedy test run around the neighborhood and I’m a big fan. FrankenShoe. Get it?
Bolts in the neck: Frankenstein :: Screws in the sole: Frankenshoe
And yes, I just formatted that like an SAT analogy. NERD!
Running with screws in my shoes was actually a lot more comfortable than I expected (but I’m glad the screws I got weren’t any longer). I even make a little click-clack on the sidewalk as I run. Now I’ll be a little bit more confident when I’m bounding over snow banks with no idea what the terrain is on the iter side. They are like the cyclocross equivalent of running shoes, they are just begging to go off road and tear it up. I can’t wait to take ‘em out on the trail.
Originally I was hesitant about tearing holes in my shoes, but after one run, I’m sold. This should be fun.
Tags: screw shoe
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Nice! No excuses now. I'm a Yaktrax girl myself, but I do try to stay in the snow and avoid bare road as much as I can. Happy running!
Oy. I might be doing that later this week. Stupid winter. Wonder how the tri scene is in Fiji.
Makes sense. You probably get a lot more snow than I do. In Boston, it
usually doesn't last too long before it melts. Otherwise, I'd probably use
Yaktrax if there was more snow to run on than asphalt.
I'm sooo glad you figured out how awesome this is! Just be sure not to run farther than you have to on the ice/snow-free asphalt or concrete. Your joints will take a pounding! Happy running.
Alternatively you could have strapped tennis rackets to your feet. Or even went on the treadmill? Just an idea.
OMG i'm shocked (being an australian, snow being a far off concept) but also totally not surprised that snow wouldn't stop runners!
[...] took the frankenshoes out for another test and loved ‘em. The screws made my feet sore with too much running on ice [...]