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Friday, December 24, 2010

Screw Shoes

If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know that I'm in love with running outside...and terrified of running on or near ice. But, I live in Nebraska...where there's lots of ice....for 3-4 months of the year.

Fear of running on ice, and living somewhere where there's lots of it. The two things don't play well together.

Kinda like how I love to kayak and am terrified of the water.

A good friend of mine here in Omaha, who is also a runner, talked about putting screws in his shoes last year.

I, honestly, thought he was kidding. Then, when I realized he wasn't kidding, I was trying to figure out how that would work.

I asked this year, and he sent me the link.

Somehow or another, I had this vision in my head, of putting screws into the soles of my shoes...from the inside...so the pointy parts came out on the bottom.

Sometimes I confuse even myself. Obviously, the way he does it is my simpler, and makes MUCH more sense. :-)

So...while watching TV on Thursday night, I drug out my handy dandy box of assorted screws, and a screw driver...and went to work.


I grabbed my most recent pair of "retired" running shoes to use as test subjects.



The site recommended using either 3/8" or 1/4" sheet metal screws. I could only find the 3/8", and was worried about them being too long....but even the ones up near my toes didn't go through.

They also said you'd end up having to replace the 1/4" screws here and there, as they would come out more often then the longer ones.



I ended up putting 15 in each shoe.

Overkill - yes. But they look cool. (giggle)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have heard of this, but it scares me. What if I feel the screw in the bottom of my foot when running? Ouch?! Although using the recommended size is probably the key. I went on my first run today with ice dangers. It was actually kind of fun. I'll be anxious to hear about your screw run!! Running outside is the bomb!

Anna P said...

Cant wait to hear how your first run on them is!!
By the way, I tagged you in my blog post!
http://fitgirlwannabe.blogspot.com/2010/12/ive-been-tagged.html

Nej said...

@ Lori - it scared me too at first....but they are awesome!!!!! Ran with them on Friday and this morning....and am so glad I had them!! If you use the 1/4 or 3/8 inch size, they don't even come close to going through, and they great on snow and ice both!!! :-)

Nej said...

@ Anna - working up the post on them now. I've used them twice, and am in love!!!

I'll have to "run" over to your blog and check it out. Tags are so much fun!!!! :-)

Fran said...

Never heard of this solution but I read in your comment that it's working. Cool!

Heidi said...

I missed this post (and I remember specifically asking you about them - heehee). This is a pretty cool idea. We don't get enough snow & ice here to warrant that, but it is a neat idea. Your "retired" shoes look brand new. :)