Life of a Running Shoe

It sends chills down my mid sole when that bell rings at 1:49 I know that I am to be used and abused in half and hour.  I am carried to the locker room in a backpack.  I'm taken out and tossed onto the floor.  I wait and then plug my nose as his smelly feet enter the toe pocket.  The weight on me isn't too bad just yet.  My laces are pulled tight around his foot and tied in a triple knot.  There is no way I'm escaping now.

He walks through the dusty hall and into the bathroom.  I am sitting on a coating of urine now just begging and begging to get out of there.  I am then walked out to the turf where I wait for the real agony to begin.

The coach comes up and tells the team to warm up.  Me and all the other shoes hold our breath as we know our pain is just about to begin.  We are first trod upon on the outside, inside, toe, and heel.  We are then skipped upon.  The double impact and slight drag scrape and bruise my face,  slowly ridding me of my rubber skin.  After they warm up they begin the run.  This really hurts me.  I take more abuse than just about any other object during this part of the day.

The hot asphalt begins to melt me; I'm bent with every single step.  My spine is just abused constantly.  Every landing my face is pressed hard against the ground and my body is compressed.  Right now it feels extremely painful but I know i'm in for it when I make a hard turn off the road.  It is no longer burning my face but I am now being thrown into logs, thorns, sharp rocks, and gravel.  I become plastered with mud and it becomes hard to breathe.  Parts of my rubber skin are literally torn apart at times when I become in contact with the ground.  When I return back I am discarded like nothing.

I feel so unappreciated.  I go through all of this pain and I'm not even untied when he takes me off for strides.  His feet are simply pulled through the tight opening as if I were a sock.  I'M NOT A SOCK! I cant believe all of the pain I've been through by the end of the day.  When the day is over I am taken home and placed out to dry.  Well that is if he remembers to take me out to dry.  I am often just left in the bag to remain wet and stink.  He really should learn to take me out.

I know that some day he will retire me.  I will either be used for walking or be shipped off to Africa until I am run to the ground.  I will then reside the rest of my life in a landfill until my sole completely decomposes and is released from this horrid world where us running shoes are abused.  Until that day I wait and withstand the pain I'm put through, being a noble running shoe until I die.


Just for reference this is the midsole of the shoe: