[at-l] My visit to the gear store

[askowronek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Amy)]

I visited a mall last night.  It was one of those humongous, skylit,
teenager-filled
monstrosities with way more stuff in it than you'd every feel a need to
buy.

Anyway.  I went to the New Balance store there so I could get the exact
same
shoe I got last year, which I love.  They didn't have it, but they had a
similar
model.  Unfortunately for me, they only had it in medium and wide.  They
claimed
not to carry any narrows.  I thought the whole point of having a store
like
that was they had all the sizes and all the widths.  Plus I'd bought a
shoe
in that size and width there less than a  year ago!  They offered to
order it
for me.  It'd take 13-14 business days to come in, plus I'd have to drive
back to Annapolis.  Nah.  (The shoe in question is the 904AT, btw.  The
similar shoe was the 905OR.)

There was an outfitter in the mall, so I headed there.  I walked up to
the
salesperson in the shoe area and said "I want  a trail runner for a
medium
volume foot, narrow heel, lots of toe room."  She wouldn't sell me one!
She asked me what I wanted it for, and I said "Long distance backpacking
with a 25 lb pack."  She insisted that I needed to look at boots, and if
not
boots at least heavy shoes.

I was standing there dressed head to toe in camping gear, some of it
fairly brutally used.  I pointed out that I'd put several hundred miles
on
trail runners and been very happy with them.  She still wouldn't get
trail runners out for me.  (My friend, who was standing behind me and
heard the initial exchange, later told me he thought she about to
get chunks ripped out of her by me.  But I was too surprised to have
an attitude.  :)

Finally another salesperson came and switched places with her.  This one
let me try on trail runners, though she refused to help me pick out ones
which might be a good match for my feet.  They really, seriously,
didn't want me to buy trail runners.

So if the people at the outfitter, who should know, think I'm a wacko for
wanting trail runners,  it kind of makes me wonder.  Not that I'm going
back to boots.  Heck with that, man.  Those things make my legs tired.

I got a pair of Montrail Melees which felt okay at first, but after
several
hours I think they're going to be trouble.  They come up very high around
the ankles and I think they're going to rub.  Other than that they're
pretty
comfy so I may perform surgery on them.  I think that'll make them
unstable
for the trail but fine for home.

If anybody else wants 904AT's, btw, you can still get them online.  I
ordered
some this morning.  :)

-amy