If looks could kill, I'd be in jail

I needed to get a doctors note to walk in the 3-Day. I anticipate I'll need one for the Avon also. So today I bit the bullet and went to the doc-in-a-box.

Now the doctor I liked there, Dr. Jones, left about a year ago. I've had this other guy I really didn't like. Last time, there was a young doctor, cute in a "Grey's Anatomy" kind-of way. He was nice, and mostly he listened. Which I find a rare trait in the medical profession.

So I called the doc-in-a-box this morning to see what his schedule was. I wanted to get him. He's on vacation all week. Crap. I need that excuse in the 3-Days hands by the 17th. So I took my chances and went today. Of course I got the guy I don't like.

My blood pressure was sky high, again. I have no idea why. I'm eating much better most of the time, and I'm exercising. My weight held at 238. But for some reason my BP continues to climb. So I waited in the room to be yelled at. I was not disappointed.

We walks in wearing a bowling shirt, pants and crocs. The ultimate in professional attire. He looks at the chart and then at me and says "Why did you stop taking your meds?"

Pardon me, doesn't a conversation start with hello?

"I take them faithfully."

"Then why is you BP so high?"

Excuse me, your the guy with the fancy degree, you tell me.

He decides to raise all my medication. This is totally the wrong direction. The whole reason I started walking, the whole reason I cut my Coke intake by 90%, the whole reason I started eating better was to lower my blood pressure. I'm not perfect, I know that, but I am working hard to get off the crap and it just keeps increasing.

But then the morning got worse. He asks me if there was another reason I came in today. Yeah, read the chart, the intake nurse wrote it down in detail. "Yeah, I'm doing the 3-Day and the Avon 2-Day and I need a doctors permit to walk."

With these numbers I don't think I can do that.

"Daggers" flew out of my eyes and across the room. If looks could kill, his crocs would be floating down the hall in a river of blood. I calmly explained how I've been training, blah, blah, blah. What I really wanted to say was I'll race you to the Wawa and if I win, I get the permission slip. It would have been a risk, he might be in better shape than I am. Though I don't think so.

Bottom line, I got my slips. I'll copy them and send them in tomorrow.

I had parked at BJs and walked to the doctors office. Then left there and crossed Airport Road to walk to AC Moore. The walk signal gets you almost halfway. The flashing hand about 85% across, then you run like heck before someone hits you. I timed it. Twenty seconds to get across a six-lane highway. Amazing.

Then I walked back to BJs, did my shopping, hiked back to the car and came home.

What the heck????

Today I got some really crappy news, again, from the doctor. So when that happens I head for junk food.

When I first found out I had high blood pressure it was a pizza. Today it was McDs. I had their new bacon Angus burger. It was good, and quite filling. Several hours later I'm still full. That, however, will not stop me from eating dinner. I am, if nothing else, an emotional eater.

So I ordered the food. I had a coupon for the Angus burger with a free medium fry and drink. Pat and I shared the fries. Pat took the Coke. I ate the burger, and she had a fillet of fish. Now I read an article recently about mandatory food labeling in states like New York, but I hadn't realize till today it was going mainstream.

Now, when I walked into McD's did I say to myself what healthy low fat choices do they have here? No. I wanted beef. Full fat greasy beef and fries. I was not looking for something healthy. I have NEVER walked into a restaurant of any kind looking for the healthy choice.

The McDs packaging had a full-blown Nutrition Facts on the bottom of the box, and a more graphically interesting version (the condensed version) on the side. That's what caught my eye as a designer.

What the heck? Is nothing sacred?

I read them today just because they were there. The calories disappointed me. I had bacon, cheese and beef and it was 790 calories. I would have thought it would be well over a thousand. About half were from fat. Shocking? Not really....beef, bacon and cheese. I'm surprised it wasn't more. The salt was high. That did surprise me.

Bottom line it was more or less what I expected. I didn't care. They could have those Facts printed as the wallpaper and I still wouldn't care. In Fact, if they were on the menu board I would probably look for the absolutely worse food, and order that. Just because I could.

Now I need to go get a Coke.

the worlds most expensive walking shoes

I went to Foot Solutions today to try on sneakers. wow, what a selection. I walked in and immediately saw the walking shoes. A fairly regular selection of ugly clunky sneakers, and then several very interesting ones. Some, like the Finn Comforts, didn't look like sneakers. They are after all, walking shoes.

I was greeted by Melody, a pedorthist. What is that you ask? I had no idea. I tried to look it up in the dictionary, but to no avail. So then I tried the web. Of course the first hit was Wikipedia. "A Certified Pedorthist, or C. Ped. is a specialist in using footwear - which includes shoes, shoe modifications, foot orthoses and other pedorthic devises - to solve problems in, or related to, the foot and lower limb." What did we ever do before the internet?

Anyway she asked a ton of question. I felt like I was at the foot doctor. Then she had me walk across the room, and I got on a machine which took a picture of my feet and how I stand. I said to her I should have brought my camera. She made me an extra print out. I've scanned it and it's above. The red dot's are maximum pressure on my feet. It's my heels so that's good. I apparently shift a lot of weight to my right foot. Now the young man on Sunday said I had flat feet. Her fancy computer said I had a medium arch on one foot and a high arch on the other. Whatever.

She measured me at a 10, but I tried on shoes from a 9.5 to 10.5 or 40-42 European.

The ones I was attracted to initially were Mephisto's. I knew immediately they wouldn't work. Then I tried on the Finn Comforts. They are German, with a replaceable footbed and fully repairable, so your shoes last a long, long time. They should, they cost a kings ransom...$275. I felt like I was trying on Jimmy Choos. She only had 41s which were too small. Even too small they were the most comfortable shoes I had ever had on my feet. Like my Birks, the foot bed will mold to your foot. And they have arch support.

I tried on the MBT Rockers. Boy was that weird. She said it passes after you get used to it. They, like the Skeetchers with a roll bar, are supposed to lift and tone and improve circulation, ect. (Both cost about $200 sense a trend?) We had looked at them last week in NYC on a bus stop billboard. I liked the Skeetchers, but I felt like I was walking out of them.

That happens a lot.

I also tried on some New Balance (A bargain at $110!). They were too small and they didn't have then next size up. But if I ultimately buy them, I'd get them from the New Balance store. They are a 3-day national sponsor. I might even get a discount.

All in all I tried on about 10 pair of shoes. I was there nearly an hour and a half. She ordered the Finn Comforts in my size, to try on.

When I was little, we didn't have much money. (Gee, some things never change.) But my mother always insisted on buying us good shoes. At least by the time I came along. "You only get one pair of feet", she'd say. "You have to take care of them". [She grew up wearing "relief" shoes. They were always the wrong size and her feet were a tangled mess of bunions, hammer toes, and arthritis. She wanted to spare us that. Although I think my eldest sister and brother may have worn "relief" shoes too.] So she'd scrape together money to buy us really good shoes. Every year before school started we'd get a new pair. The old pair was relegated to "play" shoes. Each pair was the same, just older. On Easter we'd get patent leather Mary Janes from the pre-cursor to Payless on Stefko Blvd. You'd wear them to church and come home and immediately take them off.

Enough memory lane. The question remains, do I dare I really spend that much money on one pair of shoes?

I don't know.

Mama?

----
To see the super expensive and super comfortable Finn Comforts, click here: http://www.finncomfort.com/collections/prod_detail.aspx?style_sku=82736&name=Cusco

Self-checkouts are evil

Okay, so this is not about walking. It's my blog and I can break the rules. And I'm really angry. So this is a rant. You might not want to read any further.

I would like to meet the man who invented the self-checkout. They are horrible, evil things and I've never used one that operated well.

Now my sister Barb goes to Meijers ever week and does her full shopping order on one. Problem free. She's always extolling their praises. I've told her they are evil. She doesn't believe me. My friend Allison does the same.

I try to use the person checkout whenever possible. I like a person. I like small talk. I like not having my blood boil. Very occasionally I try to use a self-one. It happens when the story is busy and 5 self checkouts are open and only one or two (wo)manned ones. Four people are in each of their lines with overflowing carts. I tell my self that it won't happen again. It always does.

Once a Rednor's everything erred. I could scan nothing successfully. It must have been around Easter a couple years ago because I had many Just Born jelly beans (they are hard to find in the town that makes them) and I was throwing the bags the belt. I nearly had jelly beans everywhere. I was shouting at the machine. (Okay, it always ends with me shouting at the machine and into the parking lot.) A lot. The person in charge of those machines comes over and lickidy split gets everything to scan. I hate that person.

Once I tried at BJs. Similar problem. I yelled at it. I called it a stupid machine. It wouldn't work. The people behind me tried to help it wouldn't work for them either. Finally a clerk comes over, and you know the rest.

I tried one at Home Depot once. And Giant. The result is always the same.

I just back from Pathmark and it happened again. The lady in front of me had trouble and that should have been a omen. But there were only two lanes open and they had numerous people with carts overflowing. I said to Sharon we have to use the self-checkout. (Pat was waiting in the car and it's hot and humid. I did not want to be tomorrows headlines.) Sharon had a look of terror on her face. I have to admit most of the items scanned easily. I was kind of happy. Until the peas. They scanned fine but they got half way down the belt and it said I need cashier assistance. I tried again. Same thing. I had Sharon put them back in the freezer. I wasn't gonna let the dang thing beat me. Then it came time to scan my shoppers card. It wouldn't scan. I tried and tried and tried and it wouldn't scan. I faux kicked the machine and it still wouldn't scan. EVERYTHING I bought was on sale with that stupid card. My blood was boiling when the clerk came over and scanned it easily. Then I couldn't find the receipt. The guy behind me, who I'm sure was glad to see me go, finally pointed it out.

I left Pathmark ranting and raving about the evils of the self checkout. I left Sharon with the cart. Maybe I should use the self checkout before the 1/2 marathon, I was booking it across the lot. (Of course I parked in a far away spot....more steps). I started up again when I told Pat the story.

People must think I'm crazy. One day I will be thrown out of a store and told never to come back. My big fear is one day I will snap and go postal over the stupid self-checkout. I am happy for you who love the self-checkout and embrace it. I however, I WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER USE THE SELF-CHECKOUT AGAIN! I don't care how long the line is or who is cooking in the car.

cheated on my Birks this morning

I bit the bullet and cheated on my Birks this morning. I decided to try on sneakers.

I swore off sneakers about 10 years ago.

I have always had a love-hate relationship with sneakers, but my last pair just drove me to the edge. I'd walk a mile and have sore feet for a week. I bought them at a very reputable athletic shoe store in my town and spent a lot of money on them. Hopefully the person who bought them at the thrift shop go a lot of wear out of them.

Every time I have a training walk for the three-day or the Avon, people ask me why am I wearing Birks. I tell them the story. They tell me I shouldn't hold a grudge and try again. I've fallen twice training, it might be the Birks but I think it was my blood pressure because I was trying keep up with the fast walkers. I live in fear of breaking something and I have no health insurance. I need to do a consistent 3.5 miles an hour to do the Philly (half) marathon in November.

So this mornings walk was a wash out. We only got about two miles in before the downpour. (I will walk in any weather during an event, but I won't train in it. Can't risk getting ill. The insurance thing again.)

So instead of walking Beth and I went to the Finish Line. It's a local running store with a great reputation. Our original plan was to go to Foot Solutions in Easton where Beth got her sneaks, but they aren't open on Sundays.

Sunday's must be a slow day at the Finish Line. The sale crew was young. Very young. But they seemed to know what they were doing. He measured my feet, twice (10.5) and watched me walk. Declared I was flat footed and walk inward. When I heard that I giggled to myself. As a kid I sort-of walked on the sides of my feet. Always wore the sides out before the bottoms of my shoes. I had to wear these horrible red three strapped shoes to correct my feet. They mostly worked.

The young man came out with four pairs. The first were Asic, white with a purple/pink color accent. (Aside: Why are sneaker so ugly? With all this technology at their fingertips they should be able to make them functional and not hideous.) They fit well in the front, and were sloppy in the back. I had a feeling of deja vu. Same problems as before. I told him, and he said I can fix that. He did this neat trick with the laces and they became much tighter across my foot. But it didn't help. Now they were tighter on top of my foot that it was almost uncomfortable, and the back was tighter, but still moved around. The other three shoes were worse. Two were tight in the front and the last I might have been able to wiggle right out.

Like the walk in the morning, sneaker shopping was a washout.

But there was a rainbow. I discovered some really great socks. If they work well I'll buy more.