The leap of the sea.
Running and celebratory drinks have a long and storied history, but the latest trend of marking moments with “shoes” is perhaps the tastiest yet.
For the uninitiated, a shoe refers to the practice of pouring liquor into a shoe and drinking it. To make matters worse, a shoe is usually taken AFTER a race or when a runner sets a personal record and, apparently, his sneakers are ranked.
Pro long-distance runner and two-time Olympian Desiree Linden is a fan of the shoe and a brand loyalist.
“The first time I made shoes was in 2016 after the Olympic Marathon in Rio,” she told Runners World. “At the games, we compete in the Team USA kit, which is not Brooks, but we are allowed to compete in our individual sponsor shoes. I made the shoe as a little nod and thanks to the Brooks team when I couldn’t show the love with their logo on the jersey.
Linden debuted her second pair of shoes in 2018 to commemorate her Boston Marathon win.
Ashley Mateo, a UESCA and RRCA-certified running coach in Denver, kicked off her first shoe at the 2021 Chicago Marathon. She recalled, “I was really bummed at first, but it just felt like something you did to celebrate this which you just achieved. So I did the first one.â€
Popular with Australians – and by no means limited to the running community – the shoe’s tradition can be traced (or laced, if you will) to Middle America.
According to Yahoo News, the shoes originated in a Chicago brothel in 1902. Prince Henry of Prussia was reportedly patronizing the establishment when one of the ladies lost her slipper while dancing. An intrepid member of his entourage filled the free shoe with champagne and drank it, thus giving birth to an unpopular tradition.
Fast forward to World War I, when German soldiers would all drink from the same boot before battle, believing it would bring them good luck.
Recently, Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo has taken global shoey, repeatedly spilling champagne from his racing shoes.
His opinion? “If sparkling wine is cold, then it tastes good. If it’s warm, you can sweat it, but the cold taste kills the bad stuff, so it’s delicious.”
While taste can be subjective, health experts agree that drinking from a shoe is bad news.
“Drinking beer from a running shoe, especially one that has just been used during a race, is not hygienically advisable.” said Sarah Jamison, MD, an emergency physician in New York.
“Running shoes contain sweat, bacteria, fungus and potentially even small particles of dirt or road debris. After a race, these contaminants can mix with the beer, increasing the risk of exposure to harmful pathogens.
Among those harmful pathogens? Athlete’s foot. The inside of a shoe can harbor the fungus responsible for this infection, which can easily spread to other parts of the body. Highly contagious, athlete’s foot spreads through contaminated items such as clothing, sheets and sneakers. Thus, taking a shoe out of someone else’s dirty underwear seriously increases the likelihood of infection.
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Image Source : nypost.com