Lace Up Your Shoes

1063 Words3 Pages

Quick! Look at your shoes. If your shoes have laces, they might be tied wrong. In fact, about 50% of Americans tie their shoes the wrong way, that is, they use the wrong knot when tying their shoes. If your laces come undone, or your bows are twisted, or you double knot your shoes to prevent them from coming untied, then chances are, you tie your shoes the wrong way.

About two years ago I took up running. I loved my new sport and entered several running events and races mostly 5K’s. Six months into my new hobby, I decided I was a “real runner” and because I was a “real runner,” I needed to subscribe to a real running magazine. It’s a well-known fact that every diehard runner has to subscribe to a running magazine of some sort. For most runners, that magazine is Runner's World! So, I subscribed. During the first six months of my subscription, I learned things like what type of shoes I should be wearing for my foot type, stride, and how many miles I should be running each week if I planned on running any farther than 10K.

In November 2008, I received the January 2009 issue of Runner's World. I was thumbing through it quickly, as I normally do, picking out articles that I would read in-depth later and finding online video links that I would review. While scanning the pages, I found an online article by Dan Koeppel, titled Knot Perfect, (2009). I quickly logged on to the Runner’s World website and was shocked to find out that I was in the 50% who tied their shoes wrong. In fact, I had been tying my shoes wrong for almost 40 years.

In the article, Koeppel (2009, p.1) interviews Ian Fieggen, an Australian man who’s obsessed with shoelaces and knots. He’s so obsessed that he has a website devoted to knots http://www.f...

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...e time, but in hindsight, I wouldn’t do it again. Bosses tend to not like it when subordinates point out their flaws.

Today, I'm not so fast to point out the shoe-tying faults of others. However, it's still one of the first things I notice when I meet someone. Others might notice a smile, hair, a fancy tie, or even the shoes people wear. Me, I notice laces. If you tied your shoes wrong before reading this, beware, you just might start noticing this fault in others too!

References

Graham, S. (2009). Fit too be Tied [Knot illustrations]. Retrieved March 31, 2010, from

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--13001-0,00.html#

Koeppel, D. (n.d.). Tie the perfect knot at Runner's World.com. Runner's World: Running Shoes,

Marathon Training, Racing. Retrieved March 31, 2010, from

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--12997-0,0

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