See, I was walking miles and miles every single day on mainly flats, old Skechers, and occasionally high heels.
I was also suffering from a condition called "I've never paid more than $25 for a pair of shoes."
Call me cheap, you'll be right.
On paper, Plantar Fasciitis looks like a little tear in the foot. Like an annoyance, a pebble in the shoe, a strain in the distant limbs that you don't often think about. (Unless yours are as cute as mine.)
BUT NO.
It is a tearing, wrenching sensation every time you take a step. Screaming pain when you wake up and first put your feet to the floor. Throbbing heels at the end of a five-mile walk from the train station to the Prison-converted-Hotel of Pension Unitas in Prague. Sitting down at every chance, every time there is a wait for a bus or a streetcar or a hotel key.
After I came home, it took two full years for my feet to heal (if they are 'healed' even now), and I really don't want to deal with it again when we go to Japan. I'm dreading it, actually.
So I'm checking out options: looking for orthotic shoes, calling the local podiatrist, wincing at the prices ...but wincing even more at the descriptions I am finding. Like this one. And this one. Right now my feet are fairly itching at the excruciating memories.
And while we're talking about it, can I just wonder out loud:
Why do good shoes have to be ugly??
For three years now, every time I've seen a pair of adorable or sexy shoes - flats or heels - I've thought,
Cute, but, OW.
So not worth it to me. Especially since I don't have insurance.
when Bret worked as an orthotic tech, that was the #1 complaint from female patients - how ugly the shoes were. They said they would live with the pain if they didn't have to wear such horrid shoes every day. Hmmmm, just a matter of priorities, I guess.
ReplyDeleteBuy some quality shoes, stat. Ruining your feet is not worth the extra thirty bucks (or even forty or fifty).
ReplyDeleteI love Rocket Dogs for casual walking-type shoes. They're not super cute or anything, and they usually run about $50 a pair - but they last and are comfortable. I wore one pair (similar to these) for about four years straight, and they were SO comfy.
Also, I have a pair of Tretorn sneakers I love - unfortunately they had to be "broken in", but after a few wearings they're great. And I got them on sale for like $30, I think.
If you want to be super stylish (and super spendy) Frye boots are supposed to be the ultimate in comfort.
Anyway, bottom line: you get what you pay for, and your cute feet are worth a splurge. Good luck!
Didn't they give you the option of some kind of "super, industrial strength inserts"? Then you could buy some quality, but also cute, shoes that have the added help from the inserts?
ReplyDeleteFig- I'm looking at upwards of $150 for a pair of shoes that will do what I need them to.
ReplyDeleteAmy- the custom inserts are $250. They last 10 years or so. But I'm going to look into the heat-molded ones which are only $55, which I could put in almost any of the shoes I currently have.
I had the same thing with my right heel. It also took two years to mend. Doug and I just spent two weeks in France walking miles and miles on cobbled streets. I had two pair of Clarks shoes and LOVED pretty much every step I took in them. Bought them at Macy's in Orem during one of their great sales. They are such comfortable shoes and they looked good, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://oak-den.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-fell-in-love-with-france_25.html
It took 25 years for Doug to be able to take me to his mission. You're pretty fortunate to be going to Dorian's so soon!
Oh ... they're so ruined at this point that you have to have SPECIAL shoes? Yikes.
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4533731&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone :)