Trying To Capture Lightning

With Nike releasing limited edition Tokyo 23 versions of the Jordan 5 and CP3.IV exclusively in Japan today, I made it a point to make good use of the holiday and try to land one or the other. First things first, you have to lace up a decent pair of hunting boots when going on the hunt:



With rumors swirling that these would be extremely limited (as low as a several hundred made of each pair), I decided to not take any chances and head to my sneaker spot early. Unfortunately, the mall's parking lot wasn't open yet, but I managed to find a pay lot a couple of blocks away.



As expected, several people were already lined up and waiting. Lots of heat in attendance - Cement III, Fire Red 5, Space Jams - but all the buzz was clearly about the T23 "Lightning" Jordan 5. Oddly enough, there were lots of people waiting in line at the theater as well. Not sure what's more weird, the fact that the movie theater opens at 8:00 in the morning, or the fact that there are actually people who want to watch a movie that early.



Unfortunately, rumors surrounding the production run seemed to be fairly accurate, as the store apparently only had 10 pairs of each shoe in stock. The size run was even a bigger surprise, as they only had 7.5 through 10. Considering the size breakdown, logic suggested that they would likely have no more than 2 pairs of the Jordan 5 in my size (10), and likewise for the CP3.IV.



Rather than risk a stampede when the doors finally opened, the employees did the smart thing and asked customers for their preferred model and shoe size before handing out vouchers. When the girl taking sizes got to me, there was just one pair of the Jordan 5 left in a 7.5, as well as a few pairs of the CP3.IV, with the biggest size being a 9.5. I weighed my options for a minute, but eventually decided to grab the largest available pair of the CP3s, figuring that I could make a 9.5 work with church socks (maybe). This is all that they had left by the time I got to the register:



I let the dude behind me take the last pair of the Jordan Vs. In hindsight, I could have just bought the shoes anyway and flipped them since they'd probably fetch Yeezy-type prices (people online were offering me $500-$600 to land a pair), but I never got into the sneaker game to turn a profit through reselling and all that noise. The dude behind me said that he planned to take the 7.5 pair and try to find someone online that would trade him an 11, and I believe him. I did make it a point to snap a picture of them, considering that it's possible that I'll never see another pair in my life.



Pretty nice huh? I do like the 5 silhouette a lot, but I don't know if I would have ever rocked the T23s, even if I managed to grab a pair in my size. With the Wolf Grey 5 due out on 5/14, I think I can manage without the Lightnings in my life. So, my spoils for waking up early on my day off? One pair of T23 CP3.IVs in 9.5. And some stickers.



I suppose my initial reasoning was that I'd rather have a pair of the CP3s a half size too small than a pair of the Jordans 2.5 sizes too small, but I'm kind of glad that I went with the CP3.IVs since they are really, really nice and just as limited. I'd been looking at those XI-inspired Bred CP3.IVs, but these T23s blow those way out of the water.



Clean. Needed New Orleans to win today to really put a cap on things, but it was still a good day. I'll post more detailed pictures later.