I have been doing a walking program recently. I started trying to lose weight by going on the South Beach Diet which had worked for me in the past. Not much was happening even though I was adhering to the diet, so I decided that I should start walking each day. This meant including Kaylie my wonderful English Golden Retriever. She had no say in this. I hope she likes it. She and I have both been pretty sedentary for a long time so suddenly walking 5 miles a day I am sure was as much of a shock for her as it has been for me. Going from under 3,000 steps a day to over 12,000 steps is crazy. I am committed or probably should be for thinking this was a good idea. Actually, it has helped in terms of weight loss. The first week I did the walking along with the diet yielded a loss of 3.2 pounds. I am anxious to see if that continues. Weigh in day is Monday and so week two is only two days away. We will see. I have been rambling a bit so let me get back to my point.
I decided that my regular sneakers needed to be replaced by walking/running shoes. I did a little research and decided that I should go to the local Dick’s Sporting Goods. They seemed to have hundreds of shoes to choose from online. So my daughter and I went to the store. No one was immediately available in the shoe department so Marti went to find someone. Soon a very affable fellow came to the shoe department and let us know that he was there to help. I ask about recommendations for walking shoes. Out of all of the shoes and manufacturers that were on display he basically said that it came down to two shoes. One was from Nike and the other was from Adidas. That really simplified things for me. I decided on the Nike model mainly because I preferred the way it looked. I tried a pair on and they felt great. I got the kind that has no laces and you just slip them on. Not as simple as it sounds. I ask him about colors. I wanted black or navy blue. He checked and all they had was fire engine red or gray. I decided on gray. Then I ask if they had socks with some padding on the bottom. He said that they did carry those but currently didn’t have any in stock. He then ask if there was anything else he could help me with. I ask if they had shoe horns because with these types of shoes a shoe horn would really simplify putting them on. He said that they used to have those but didn’t have them anymore. He finally said is there anything else I can help you with. I wanted to say well you don’t have the color I wanted in the shoes, you don’t have the socks I would like, and you don’t have a shoe horn so what is it that you helped me with? He helped me find out quickly what little they had that I wanted. I didn’t say anything. In addition, he didn’t take my payment either. That is done at the checkout counter. Basically, I am still wondering what his function is. The main thing he had going for him was his welcoming personality and his apparent willingness to help. That said it was the opposite of help in a real sense. By process of elimination and knowing that he didn’t actually have most of what I needed I guess this is what you get in many of these encounters. He definitely knew what shoes to narrow it down to so I guess there is comfort in that. I am happy with the shoes, found socks somewhere else and got a shoe horn from Amazon. Problem solved.
Continuing to walk my 5 miles a day and those shoes are serving me well. Just put them on using the shoe horn and OMG it takes all the work out of putting on the shoes. Clearly, help was on the way. It didn’t come in the form that I had imagined but by reducing my choices to 2 shoe models out of hundreds and letting me know that I had come to the wrong place for socks and shoe horns made the event go quickly and painlessly. I know I will return to Dick’s for other sporting goods when I need them and frankly if I get the same help that will suit me fine. The purchase/purchases all worked out for the best and I will be healthier and carrying less weight because of it. Rest assured that when you go shopping, “Help Is On The Way” in some form.
