Wear, Watch, Want #214: The Larger Sizing Education Edition
Wear: Nike Free Metcon 4 Training Shoes
I’ve previously mentioned that I wanted to get some shoes for strength training. I bought a pair of Nike Free Metcon 4s in Nike’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale, and when they finally arrived, they were all wrong.
I’m just sitting in my house alone, laughing. I ordered these shoes from @nikestore and they are both right shoes, one is a 10 and one is an 8
— Sarah C. (@sarchrz) December 2, 2021
(I ordered 9.5… preferably one left and one right) pic.twitter.com/66KUf3pzz7
The color was right, but everything else that could be wrong was wrong. Then they didn’t have my size in the color I wanted, but based on trying on two right shoes in the wrong size I decided I should go down a half-size ANYWAY, and was able to order those. Then I had to wait until my return got back to Nike, then for them to ship me the new shoes, and for them to arrive. And they were too small. By now it’s mid-December, and I am so annoyed. (I should mention I’m not annoyed at any person or company, everyone was helpful and kind, I’m just impatient.) Oh here’s another issue with these shoes (which after trying on a few pairs, I did think would be really nice, someday), they’re unisex… but the sizing isn’t. Instead of using, oh, a unisex system like EU sizes, they are sold in either women’s or men’s sizes based on the color. I cannot express what a terrible and confusing decision this is. I ended up buying these shoes FOUR TIMES from TWO STORES, because after buying and returning and buying and returning from Nike, I was so confused and frustrated that I gave up my Black Friday discount and just ordered from Nordstrom. Where I had to buy one pair of (men’s) 9.5s and realize that I actually would prefer 10s, then end up the shoes pictured above, which I do really like and are working out great.
I ended up trying almost every size on this chart
Here is NIke’s shoe size chart, just to illustrate this completely off the wall sizing. I am typically a women’s 9, or a 9.5 in gym shoes. I am very consistently an EU 40. The shoes I ended up with are a men’s 10/women’s 11.5/EU 44. Even knowing from reviews that these shoes tend to run small, this is wild.
Watch: Abbott Elementary
One of the reasons I love Abbot Elementary is because it reminds me so much of my school experience, which you never see on TV unless it’s like, The Wire and the point is that we live in hell. Yeah, my school had no money and we regularly had textbooks with the covers ripped off and bathrooms with no soap or toilet paper (or stall doors, tbh), but I didn’t realize this was unusual until I went to a snobby private college and found out my roommates thought I was like Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance (???). I’ve realized so much about my own teachers now that I’m an adult and have Adult Perspective and yeesh, they must have been exhausted ALL THE TIME.
My favorite part of Abbot Elementary (there have only been two episodes so I’m basing this on very little) is Sheryl Lee Ralph’s character, Barbara Howard. Yes, she’s playing an elementary school teacher, but she IS embodying my seventh grade math teacher who gave me an F+ and became a legend in my family (as an adult I have realized she was one of the best teachers I ever had).
Want: Marmot Montreal Jacket
I realized, during Seattle’s recent snowstorm, that my winter coats don’t fit that well. I have one heavy winter coat from The North Face, and it’s great, but I’ve done enough squats (and dismantling diet culture) that it’s a bit too tight in the hips. I was outside a lot in the cold, and one day I realized, “I should just buy a larger coat.” Like, DUH. I love my Marmot Ithaca Vest, so I looked into a similar style in a coat, and settled on the Montreal Coat. I got the same size as my vest, but it was just a bit tight in the hips. I could wear it, sure, but if I’m spending big bucks on a nice coat I want it to fit like a dream, so I’m currently waiting for a larger size to arrive. Hopefully in time for Seattle’s next cold snap.
