The Curious Case of Missing Shoes

Today was spinning day, so I walked over to the gym in my flops.  When I signed in, I saw a sign that spinning was cancelled, but I figured I’d just spin on my own or do something else instead, so I went to get my shoes.   And they weren’t there.  I looked along all of the lockers twice and then asked the lady who maintains the women’s locker room if she had moved any of the shoes.  She said she hadn’t but looked in a bag of abandoned shoes in the back, without luck.  She took me out to the management desk and told them the situation and one of the other works went back in the locker room with me.  I remembered that last time I was there, I left my socks in my shoes and forgot to grab them that night after yoga.  I went back to where I thought my shoes should  have been, and the socks were still there!  Someone took the socks out of my shoes and took the shoes!  We went back out to the hall and all of the workers were very concerned and said they would search the lockers to see if they could find them.  I explained that I really wasn’t that concerned because they are old shoes that I only wear for spinning (they hurt my feet to do anything else in them), I was only concerned because couldn’t work out today because I only had flops.  But they said that they cared and wanted to find them.  I really don’t care – at all – if I get those shoes back, but it does suck to know that people steal from the locker room.  I should also point out that this isn’t just a regular gym – it’s a private club that back in the day was really exclusive.  It’s not quite as exclusive now (though I love that my gym has a bar and regularly does booze-tastings), but it still has that private club feel and except during a small open enrollment period when we joined, you need to have a “sponsor” to get in.  I’ve worked across the street from this gym for 7 years and didn’t know it existed.  I leave my valuables in my bag in an unlocked locker every time I go to yoga in the evening and have never thought twice about it!  Why someone would want my 4 year old mizunos, I have no idea.

So I walked dejectedly back to my office and realized that I still had time to throw on my vibrams and go for a quick run outside.  I jogged over to COSI to run the steps for 15 minutes or so.  I had to run past 100’s of geese to get to the stairs and I’m pretty terrified of geese (I grew up on a farm and they are nasty f-er’s)!  I almost scrapped that plan so I didn’t have to go past them.  (the pic doesn’t look like hundreds, but they were on both sides of the road and all down the hill – I just didn’t want to get close enough to them to get a good picture because one was eyeing my suspiciously)

While I was running the stairs, I kept my eyes on the geese to make sure they weren’t coming towards that area.  When I had to jog back out of that area, I had to pass them again, only this time there were more and they were on both sides of the street AND some were crossing the street!  I walked very carefully through the tunnel of geese because I learned at a young age that both geese and cows will chase you if you run!  After I jogged back to work and came in the building, I realized just how hot it was outside!  My face was bright red for like 20 minutes – maybe 91 degrees is a little too hot to run in, even for just 25 minutes!  My coworker walked past me and just laughed.  That’s how ridiculous I looked.

But seriously – who steals a pair of shoes from a gym?!  I totally expected them to be there when I went back for yoga tonight – like maybe someone forgot their shoes and borrowed mine, but they weren’t.