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So I had a bizarre experience today:

As you probably read about in the previous post, during the 50k race on Sunday, my shoelace snapped, just as in my dream the night prior. The shoes are made by Salomon (a skiwear maker, predominately) and possess a quick-tie lacing system that actually requires one to send the shoe back to the manufacturer to fix. Yes, lame, but I do have a spare pair of trail shoes, so I dragged the old boys out of the closet to take them to REI.

Upon examination, I noticed a thick stick protruding from the outer sole of the shoe. It was jammed in at least 2" into the hard rubber. Christ, a little higher up on my ankle and it would have been drop-out-of-race-time for Rustyboy.

So I tote these incredibly worn (I've had them for 3 months and probably put about 700 miles on them), gaggingly smelly, beaten up shoes to REI where they inform me that I can get a brand new pair in exchange if they have my size. If not, I get a full refund.

After I found out that my size was unavailable, they refunded me $100 for my tattered and dessimated footwear and sent me on my merry way.

All I'm saying is: Buy Salomon footwear, and make sure to ruin them after you've beaten the crap out of 'em