I did it.  I just bought my first pair of Hoka‘s today.  I said I’d never wear them.  I laughed at them in the store.  I compared them to those gimmicky Sketchers “Shape Up” shoes.  But darn it… my body aches, I put too many miles on my Kinvara’s too fast so they break down quickly so I’ve been thinking about finding an alternate running shoe for a few months at least.  A couple of the running bloggers/IG’ers I follow have switched recently and raved, so I caved.

And…

I love them.  I never want to take them off!  They have a whopping 6 miles on them on their first day out of the box and I love them!

Darn it, if you want customer service done right, go to the Columbia Road Runner Sports store.  I do believe I took up over an hour of their time today, but not once did I feel rushed.  They answered every question, working with other customers seamlessly, and patiently brought me shoe box after shoe box with a smile.  Every time I went back to the Hoka One One Bondi.  With a few reassuring texts messages from my hubster (thanks, Chad), and a killer “exchange anything in 90-days” (in any condition)… I left with the second prettiest blue box a girl can get.

And thus began my running career as a Spice Girl.

Stay tuned, tomorrow is my National Park Service Birthday Virtual Race 10k (#NPSBirthdayVR) at Catocin Mountain!  I’ll be rocking my Hoka’s and throwing a blog together with a full “First VR Experience” perspective and hopefully some stunning photos to share.