Wordy Wednesday

I’ve been in need of new workout shoes for longer than DH has been in need of a new phone. But like him I failed to take action because the shoes still worked mostly and would be expensive to replace. But eventually the foot cramps got to me and I made the hour long trek to the running shop to discuss new shoes and take their various foot assessment tests.

I have weird feet.

I have unnaturally narrow heels, my pinkie toes lay sideways to my foot, arch problems and I run on the outside of my feet and a couple other things that I am forgetting at the moment.

I buy pricy athletic shoes to offset these things when I work out & run.

And you should see what I spend on boots that fit. (or have spent, being that I could only ever afford one paid of custom made boots & they cost two weeks pay in 1996)

My doc & the shoe specialists at the running store both thought barefoot running would be helpful. And I thought it certainly would be cheap!

But my gym has policies against that sort of thing.

So these Vibram Five Fingers were suggested to me. These are the KSOs. You wear them without socks. They look and feel like water shoes.  Like I should be at the river or lake, not at the gym. 

And they are not at all attractive.

Not in the least bit attractive.

Ugly in fact

But oh my!

They are wonderful for running. My feet did not get all sweaty like I feared. Even though they were a little large they didn’t rub or anything (they come in European sizes, 38 is snug on me, 39 is loose & you can’t get 38.5s) Every toe having it’s own little pocket feels weird and takes getting used to, and my pinkie toes did not enjoy the experience the first couple times. My calves hurt in places they hadn’t before as well, but now it’s fine. I like running in them and my feet don’t cramp up when I do aerobics type classes. The foot cramping thing is why I rarely took aerobic type classes.

And they are water shoes too. I can wear them to the gym and to river.

So I am liking them.

But they are so unattractive & I’m the only one at the gym with them & feel conspicuous in them. They make my feet look huge. Normally I just got straight from the gym to whatever shopping I have to do but now I change shoes because I feel so self-conscious in these. Like if I were in Wal Mart all these people would be looking at me and wondering “what the hell does she have on her feet?” and I don’t need that attention from the people of Wal Mart.

disclaimer – I bought these shoes, ugly though they are, with DHs hard earned dollars because they seemed right for my feet. The store was having a sale at the time but everyone got the discount regardless of whether they were a blogger or not. In fact, they showed no interest at all when I mentioned I was a blogger because you don’t need special shoes to blog & the running store employees only care about things you need special shoes to do