This day in history: Shoe rationing

"On February 7, 1943, the federal government announced that shoe rationing was going into effect nationwide, starting at 3:00 p.m. that day. Because the announcement was made on a Sunday, Long Island shoppers had no chance to stock up. Even the Nassau County Rationing Administrator told Newsday he didn’t know about the new policy until he heard about it on the radio. However, beginning Tuesday, February 9, customers who could produce a particular coupon, No. 17, from their Sugar-Coffee-Shoe ration book were allowed to buy shoes — although their next pair could not be purchased until June 15. And manufacturers were only permitted to make shoes in “essential” colors: white, black, town brown, and Army russet and in styles which used little or no leather."

–Cynthia Blair (Newsday.com)

Shoe rationing would hit me hard, I admit it. I would, of course, go to work in my old ASICS 2090's, as I have been for the last six months and if they wore out, well I have a lot of other old running shoes that would do. My current favorite training shoes, Brooks Adrenaline, will likely last another 300-400 miles, but after that, what to do? And that's just for the steady runs, the daily miles. What about racing shoes? I've pretty much destroyed my pair of Nike racing flats and am currently looking for a replacement model. It would be a sacrifice to keep racing in them for another five months, but I guess that's what I'll have to do. I won't even think about new racing spikes, lightweight trainers (for tempo runs), or special shoes for trail running.

As for the colors, well, maybe that's a blessing in (plain brown) disguise. There is only one reason running shoe manufacturers produce models with such exotic plumage -- to distract us, the consumers, from the underlying features of the shoe. Maybe if all running shoes were white, black, town brown, or army russet, we'd pay less for them and the marketing departments behind them.

Maybe I could barter around this scarcity of shoes. I'll give up sugar and coffee -- it would be hard to give up coffee, but I'd do it -- for a chance at another pair of shoes. Anyone want to swap coffee coupons for shoe coupons?

But would we even be running if there were shoe rationing? Running as a leisure activity is fairly frivolous and might not be acceptable if the country was in the midst of rationing. Maybe running itself would have to be rationed. No more than 30 miles a week. No more than three runs a week. No track workouts, except in the case of medical necessity.

We live in privileged times, free to run in luxurious shoes on world-class indoor tracks. We shouldn't forget how lucky we are to have our daily run, no matter how cold it is outside.