God went ahead of me in some shopping I had to do today. I am so excited! I have been researching running shoes for about a week now. I knew that my Ecco shoes were breaking down (I've really used them too long) because the inside of my left foot began to ache as well as my heel on my left foot.

I also was intrigued by the iPod nano thing that Nike has going to keep track of your runs and you can make friends, etc. I was excited about maybe finding a pair of Nike shoes to do this.

So today I went to the store with a list of shoes to look for. I was in the market to buy two pairs of running shoes: one for the pavement and one for the dirt road. I felt that I needed more support on the dirt road. I looked up stores in our area that carry Nike and when I got there, they were out of business. I guess we don't have an official "running" store????? So I headed across the street to Academy Sports.

I was looking for the women's running shoes and went down every aisle. When I was on the clearance aisle (looking for the right aisle because they have changed things around), there was one of the Nike shoes on my list. So I picked it up to look at it so I would know what to look for when I found the right aisle and would you believe it?! It was a size 9!!!! My size!!!! They are $90 shoes and I got them for $39!!!! God is so kind!

Smiling I headed out to look for the trail shoes I wanted. They carried one close to the one I was looking for and I bought both pairs of shoes for less than what I paid for my Eccos (which I loved by the way). I was, no AM, so excited! God has a way of giving us small gifts like that and I am soooo appreciative!

Next I was looking for an iPod Nano. I have a big iPod which my loving hubby bought me for my trip to England a few years back, but it won't fit into my pockets when I run. I wanted something smaller. My daughter has a Nano, but it is a 2GB and I really wanted at least an 8GB. So off I go to price an iPod Nano. I called sweet hubby to talk about prices and what I was finding. Then he says, "I have points on my card. Let me see if I have enough for an iPod." He called me back and God did it again! He had 30,000 points and a 16GB iPod Nano is 28,000. We didn't have to pay anything! I couldn't wait to get home with all of my goodies and go run!

Of course, I don't have my Nano yet. It was ordered today, but I am putting my songlists together and I did run in my new shoes today (2.5 miles). They felt great! My toes didn't fall asleep. The inside of my left foot didn't hurt. I think the pavement ones are a great fit for me. Tomorrow I will try out the trail ones on the dirt road.

My run was a little slow today, but I was out there. I waited too late in the day to run, but I had to get out of the house early today. It was only 75 degrees, but I felt it in my breathing. I think I will have to learn to run earlier. I usually reserve my early time of day for me and the Lord, but I might have to work in a good run in there somehow. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Thank You, Lord, for my gifts today. Now help me press on!