Bowerman Shoes

I started wearing out a new pair of Nike Pegasus recently. I can't say that I examined them closely, but I did notice Bill Bowerman staring out of them at me. That wasn't remarkable in itself, but when I looked at my older pair, Bill Bowerman was missing. Below is a picture of the right shoe from the newer pair and the right shoe from the older pair.


You can see Coach Bowerman peeking out of the newer shoe but he has abandoned the older shoe.


I considered that Nike had come up with some magical formula to limit us to one Bowerman per runner, but it clear that the Bowerman image just wore off of the older shoe over time. This suggests a good rule of thumb:

When Coach Bowerman leaves your Nike shoes, it's time for you to leave them as well.

This may miss the actual lifetime of the shoes by a hundred miles or so, but at least it gives you something to go on. Absent the Bowerman Indicator, I'm liable to wear my boots as long as the airsole hasn't gone flat, the outsole hasn't completely fallen off of the shoe, and skunks don't complain about the smell of the upper. Anyway, who wants to run in a pair of shoes without a picture of a crusty old track coach stamped on the insole? I'm surprised that the other companies haven't introduced insoles featuring Percy Cerutty, Franz Stampfl, or Tom McNab.


I also like the hidden compartment in the sole of the Pegasus. It's the perfect size for smuggling gold, drugs, or diamonds, or for a Sardaukar to keep a coil of piano wire in case he's stripped of all other weapons. Not that I'd use it for any of those things. I recommend keeping bus fare stashed in there just in case a run goes really, really bad.


Links:

• Some better Running Rules of Thumb
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/running-rules-of-thumb.html