About That...

Before I decided to pick up some tennis-ball yellow or blaze-orange spraypaint to beautify the the Brooks Defyance 4 shoes I'm wear testing, I thought it'd be smart to channel my 4th-grade science roots and perform a little experiment first.

Hypothesis: Pink spraypaint will make the best shoes in the world even better.

First, I made an old pair of Glycerin 7s rise from the dead. I don't know why I keep these around since they are so far beyond their lifespan that I wouldn't run in them. I think it's because they were my first pair of Brooks shoes, they saved my knees, and they are what turned me onto the brand. I have a place in my heart for those shoes, but earlier this week they volunteered to be my guinea pig.

Secondly, I dug up a can of florescent pink spraypaint I had around. Don't ask.

Third, I brought the shoes outside and spraypainted a couple of coats. I went back out the next day and spraypainted a couple more coats.

The result?

Figure 1. Spraypaint test fail

• Spraypaint completely doesn't work on the shoe's mesh. All of the little holes make it entirely impossible for the paint to coat evenly. I realized very quickly that I would have to do multiple layers of paint on the mesh area alone to try to match the color that was taking on the other parts of the shoe. I wasn't about to tape off all the non-mesh parts.

• The retroflective silver areas on the shoes also don't hold spraypaint well. I noticed that it was dripping straight off of the material, leaving some pretty heinous streaks. Not that this pink isn't already heinous... To each their own.

• The sole of the shoe was the only part of the shoe that somewhat held the paint, probably because it was white and rubbery. I imagine that a few runs in some loose gravel will strip that paint right off, though.

Conclusion: Spraypainting shoes was probably one of my dumber ideas.

Figure 2. Don't try this at home

Beautification Plan B? Find the flashiest shoelaces possible to spice up these suffering soles. I'm at a loss for what I can do to these shoes to give them a life, but I'm definitely open to suggestions. Bueller?