It was the kind of machine you’d see behind the counter at a Starbucks or in a cafe that serves fancy coffee drinks. They had hooked up a generator and a five-gallon water tank. I asked one of the men what was happening; he said it was a joint promotion between a local running club and a British shoe brand coming to the US.

When we returned that way again about 30 minutes later, a dozen runners were standing around, and they’d set up a 7-foot high shelf unit with cubbies of running shoes for the runners to try the shoes.

A group of men and maybe one woman gathered outdoors near a table and a rack filled with shoes in neat cubbies.

You can barely see the coffee machine in the photo above, peeking out behind the cluster of men in the center.

They offered me coffee, but I declined. I do not think about drinking coffee along with strenuous exercise.