I Ask You: How can the one pair look better?

I hung up my marathon running shoes several years ago. I was too old and tired to keep racing. (My wife described me as decrepit. I don’t even want to know what that means).

And now it’s time to toss two old pairs of Nikes because they aren’t comfortable anymore - even for cutting the grass.

While dusting them off I noticed something unusual. Thought I’d ask readers about it.


On the one hand, the pair on the right still looks very good, but the tread and cushioning is wasted and worn out, as if enfeebled with age and infirmities.


On the other, the pair on the left also looks wasted and worn on top, seemingly dilapidated, but the tread and cushioning looks and feels as good as the day I first slipped them over my toosties.


["On the one hand, but on the other...": photos by GH]

I ask you: What gives?

Another 'I ask you': Can you spot the words above that are used to define 'decrepit' in the Concise Oxford dictionary? (Yes, I just had to know what it meant!)

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