My Apologies, Mr. UPS Man

My running shoes died a sad death two weeks ago. They are flat, worn out, painful to wear, and dirty. They took me through three and a half months of marathon training, all the while putting forth a most valiant effort. We ran up many hills together, landed in too many slushy puddles, and cruised down several straightaways. Thanks to my noble shoes, I slipped on ice, but never fell. I logged treadmill miles almost happily, and I ran distances never seen before. But all good things have to come to an end, and so we must part ways.

Enter new running shoes. I tried to buy some fancy-schmancy ones from a local running store. The stuffy European man who runs faster than I ever will told me I needed a certain size that I thought was too big. But I took his advice and my $95 shoes on my long run (19 miles) last weekend. Boy, big mistake. Well, the big mistake started the night before when I ate a McFlurry and four chicken McNuggets from a well-known fast food joint. Why do I partake of such CRAP? It was all Kyle's fault. He was hungry after his late-night basketball game. I succumbed, and I paid the price. Not only were my feet uncomfortable (not unbearable, but not great), my stomach rumbled and grumbled the whole run. Ugh.

After that less-than-pleasant experience, I decided to ditch the fancy shoes for the same model I had before. They are only about $10 cheaper, but much more reliable. And I don't have to get them in clown shoe size because some man wearing striped pants and sporting a German accent told me to.

Enter Piperlime. (At this point I know you're wondering -- what the heck does the UPS man have to do with any of this. Don't worry, I have not forgotten, but merely digressed.) I found the shoes online (they were out of my size at the local store) with free shipping and free returns. Perfect! They would arrive just in time for my half marathon race on Saturday. You know, the one I'm trying to ignore because I always do terrible in races. On Wednesday I had a note from the UPS man that he tried to deliver the package, but I wasn't home. Since I had plans Thursday, I couldn't sit home all day, but I needed the shoes by Friday morning before I left for the race. Are you following this? I'm not sure I am. ANYWHO . . .

I left a note on my door asking the UPS man to leave the shoes even if I couldn't sign for them. When I came home, they were not on my porch. I felt a bit frustrated, since I had no idea if I would get the shoes in time or not, and wearing my old ones wasn't the best idea. Then I looked in my outside closet. Lo and behold, there was a shiny Piperlime box, neatly placed on my dirty shelf. I feel so bad for the UPS man, though, because he had to open the closet door to put the shoes in the closet, and hanging on the handle of said door was a plastic bag with about 4 dirty diapers in it. EW! We take them out about once a day, but hadn't gotten to them yet. I really feel embarrassed about this. If I see the UPS man and happen to have a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies with me, I'm going to give them to him.



Back to Piperlime. You should order something from them just so you can open their chic packaging. The box has the cutest lime paper lining, and my shoe box was neatly wrapped in brown tissue paper with a smart lime sticker. There was a little green pouch with my receipt and return instructions in it. I felt delightful opening everything up. And best of all, I have my shoes to run in! I kind of wish there were some cute strappy sandals in my Piperlime box, but I can always order something else, right?

Amy

Your lucky day! Bonus pictures!

Sleepy Kara chills in the stroller after our walk to the park. Notice she's got one foot up?

Jillian and friend after the wildly-successful first grade play "Frog and Toad All Year." Besides being without a sound plot and basically unintelligible, it was GREAT! : ) Jillian sang well and I tried hard to figure out what the heck was going on. Luckily I've read the book.