Mid-life crisis?

Two weeks ago I bought a new pair of climbing shoes. While the shoes I currently have are quite good (in fact many competitive climbers wear them), they have started to wear along the seams. They will need to be resoled. My plan was to buy a new set of shoes to become my primary pair, and then use the current ones as backups when they'd been repaired.

As I considered which shoes to buy, I realized this will be the last pair of climbing shoes I get. I'm starting to age out of bouldering. I'm still holding my own, but I've stopped improving, and it's just a matter of time before I start to regress... probably a short one. I'm not at all limited by my shoes, but since this is my last pair, and since I have more income than I had when I started climbing, I decided to go big.

I purchased a pair of shoes that are way to good for me. In fact climbers that are half my age (and twice as good) in my gym don't have them. But I don't regret it. They fit like a second skin, and the confidence they give me is amazing. I'm going to really enjoy wearing these for the remainder of my bouldering time.

Then the other day I was listening to a podcast that was talking about a guy who needed a new car. He was talking about how few cars he was still going to buy in his life, and how - with his increased disposable income - he should get a really nice one. The co-hosts started making fun of him for his mid-life crisis.. which he sheepishly admitted to. And it occurred to me - that was the same justification I used for these shoes!

Apparently my mid-life crisis consists of purchasing shoes that are well beyond my ability to use, in an effort to extend my effective bouldering lifespan for a few extra months. I guess it could be worse...

I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few days. I've got more to write. But for now I just want to make sure that this page and blog are still functioning, and that I'm still able to craft and post entries.

More to come.