• Brain

I just bought a new pair of running shoes today. When I was a kid, every summer my mom would buy me a pair of PF Flyers for $9.99. I knew even before I laced them up that those Flyers would make me run faster and jump higher without even training. I knew because the television man told me so, and the television man never lied, at least not to kids. I paid about 12 times as much for the shoes I bought today compared with those PF Flyers. My new shoes have a lot of padding and are extremely light. ‘Ultramarathoners love them,’ the sales person assured me. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't think an ultramarathon was in my near, or even distant, future, although I'm sure she could guess. I tried my new shoes out when I got home. They felt good. As advertised, they were light and had some bounce to them. But unfortunately, I seemed to run just as slow as I always have, …