walkabout Grand Rapids

Walked around town this evening with Mom and the World's Coolest Grandmother, taking in some of the displays in a local public art contest.  Sometimes it's a little difficult to get large, public art, but it's usually interesting.  For example...

Foreground right you can see a sculpture in the Grand River that was descibed as "kinetic."  Obviously, a more traditional use of the term that the one that popped into my mind.  Apparently it was designed to spin or do some sort of weathervane type of thing.  Kinda pretty, but with no breeze, it was a little deficient in the motion department.  Then, atop the blue bridge, you can see...a giant table and chairs.  Okay.  Whimsical - I dig it.  There's also some sort of pink Gumby-like figure on the left side of the bridge.  That one I really don't fully appreciate.

We moseyed on, taking in a couple of other large, metallic objects.  And, as thing worked out, at that point we encountered some truly intriguing art that was not a part of the official city art project. 

Yeah.  See, that's a couple whitetail deer mounted on the back of a car.  Wearing hats.  According to Mom, they're often seen around downtown GR, although the hats may be a new addition.

New footwear update

I wore the wacky shoes around for a little bit last night with no weird side effects, so I took them out walking and running today.  They were already easier to get my feet into, although there is still that one "special" toe.

Mom has a nice stretch of sidewalk along the river here that provides a great place to walk or run, and plenty of grass alongside to try as well.

Walking in them was comfortable, although I could definitely feel myself trying to figure out how to place my feet - I felt as though I was slapping them down at first.

I think I have pretty normal feet:

One more foot shot for reference:

 OK.  So fairly normal feet, normal arches, etc. 

The running was...fine.  I'm not the world's greatest runner, by any means (I don't lift my knees enough), but I found them comfy at both a job, a slow run and a pretty good clip.  I tried them off the sidewalk and really enjoyed that.  I'm usually a little hesitant to run on rough terrain, as neither my ankles nor my balance are very awesome, but these shoes increased my awareness of the terrain variances enough that I felt quite comfortable.

My only concern is the lack of cushioning for running frequently on pavement.  We shall see about that.  I finished up with one small hotspot (pre-blister) on a toe, but nothing bad.  My lower legs have felt a little more tired than is normal with a fairly easy run, but we'll see if there was major muscle exhaustion when I get up tomorrow.

Thus far, they're interesting.

Joining the cool kids' pack

After reading LabRat's review, and finally being somewhere where I could go try some on, I picked up a pair of them thar toe-glove shoes.

I dunno yet.  I have on kinda-retarded toe that seems a little hesitant, but we shall see.