Happy Running Feet

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 (PeñaRUNzi backtrack: I wrote this last January 11, 2011.)

I’m not brand-conscious.

I am the type who sees Divisoria (a shopping heaven in Manila) a sanctuary for shoppers with tight budget.

I love bargains.

I actually find Php 350 jeans too expensive if I didn’t buy it in a mall (and it hurts when I buy in a mall).

I have always believed that dressing up depends on how you project and think of yourself. If a person feels good about himself, it shows on how he walks, talks, and the way he dresses.

Spoken in true fashion, right?

But then, I was advised by the doctor to wear special type of shoes. My feet felt numbness that I had to take Vitamin B capsules.

Special shoes – it meant the kinds of Aerosole, Florsheim (for men), Naturalizer.

They’re brands.

I’m actually not resolved to what the doctor said. A special shoe, such as Naturalizer, costs an arm and a leg. It would take at least my month’s salary to buy such pair of shoes.

But then I thought: buying a Naturalizer pair is better than trips to the doctor. More so, since I’m running, I really need to take care of my feet.

And so after so many realizations (I really had to convince myself many times), I found myself inside a Naturalizer store for the first time. I actually went to two different stalks of Naturalizer in two different shopping malls in a span of a week (talk about being a new convert).

Have I become a shopping convert? Not really.

In fact, I made sure that the two pairs I bought were on sale (you should see the glitter in my eyes when I saw the 70% tag). To be sure, I took down their phone numbers to keep track of their bargain schedule.

For me, I concluded that if I need to take care of myself, I may have to go beyond the tag price.

I have been wearing the two pairs of shoes alternately since I bought them last January.

I hear my feet say “Thank you.”