Oh, You Sneaky Gazelle.

The Gazelle is not a man of mystery. He's not a man of surprises, and I certainly don't expect romantic gestures out of the blue. This is not me complaining. I love this man. I love the fact that I can count on him, and I love the fact that I don't have to worry about surprises with him. He is not unpredictable, and that brings stability into my life.

So, just when I thought I had him figured out, he turned around and did the unthinkable.

He surprised me with the most considerate, loving, and romantic thing imaginable at this point in my jogging life. He took me to Fleet Feet Sports in Baltimore to be properly fitted for my very own pair of shiny new runners.

I was completely surprised, but I knew he had something up his sleeve when he announced on Friday evening that we had to leave the house at noon tomorrow go "somewhere". Considering that I've spent nearly every day with this man for the past 2 years, and during those 2 years, he has never attempted to plan a gosh darn thing, I didn't ask questions.

I just went with the program.

Ok...so I did ask him one question: "What should I wear?"

I'm such a girl sometimes.

When we arrived at the Fleet Feet shopping center, I didn't even see it floating among the sea of other anchor stores...I was still too overwhelmed that The Gazelle had planned anything. All I saw was "Marley Fine Jewelry". And I certainly knew that we were not shopping for...ahem...jewelry.

I kept scanning...looking for anything OTHER than a jewelry store.

And there it was, beautiful and necessary.



I trotted inside, and was given a full foot inspection. I was sad to hear that I have "baby bunions". This was disturbing, and although the lovely sales girl tried to make it sound a little less "bunion-y" by adding the word "baby" in front of it...well, I still have BUNIONS. Good lord. I have BUNIONS??!!

So, let's change the subject.

I tried on 4 pair of runners in total. After a few jogs down the sidewalk in 30 degree weather with no sports bra on (sorry breasts and innocent passers-by), I decided on the first pair that touched my little baby bunions that day:


Don't they just make you want to go run a 15K?

Yeah, me too!

Apparently, it was my day to be a jogging princess in The Gazelle's opinion. In addition to my shiny new kicks, he also got me some cold weather gear so that I can run outside for the next 2 months without fear of hypothermia.

Including...

A really freaking cool Mizuno Breath Thermo Stretch Crew



This bad boy (girl?) uses your stinky sweat to heat itself up and make you warm as you run. I thought that was genius. Especially since I hate bundling up to run because I am a great sweater. I can't layer much because I end up ditching things in bushes and then when I try to go back and pick them up at the end of the run, I forgot where I put them. Ooops.

This prAna "Jada" pant in black is com...for...table! And its slippery, so I don't see them riding up while I'm running. I also think that this pant has a magnet on the behind that causes men to smack your bottom. Well...maybe that's just the pair that I bought, and The Gazelle is magnetically attracted to them somehow. All I know is that I received a few extra bootie smacks when I wore these around the house yesterday. I think I'll wear them more often.



So my one concern about buying a non-Nike+ shoe was that I wasn't going to be able to use my Nike + iPod thingamabobbie. This was one of the things on my list of ongoing gripes with the Nike + jobby. What if I wanted a DIFFERENT pair of shoes??!! I thought I was locked in for life. I was wrong!

Enter the "Nike Shoe Wallet"



I left Fleet Feet a very happy little jogger.

I almost marched The Gazelle over to Marley Fine Jewelery when were were finished so I could buy him an engagement ring.

I thought better of it.

What can I say...I'm simple.