a whim...will I do it?

Friday night Richard Simmons is going to be giving a motivational speech at the Mount Airy Lodge and Casino in the Poconos. Saturday he'll be back to do a Sweating with the Oldies class.

I want to go to the lecture. I have no idea why. I've been thinking about it since I saw the listing in the paper. The man is wild, wacky, inspirational, and weepy ... he can get people from 100 to 1,000 pound moving their butts and eating better. Maybe that's his appeal.

I don't especially want to do the workout. Aerobics has never been my thing. I am so not coordinated.  But I bet my last dollar that every woman (and man too) in the room will be big. Some even bigger than me.

I'm sure he'll be selling his newest program or book or what not...that's why one goes out on tour.

I've been on his website three times in the past two days.  And I just joined his Facebook group. This is not a good sign. More than likely, I will go.

The shoe store where I bought my German walking shoes, Finn Casuals, is having a promotion. Come in, get weighed, and for each pound you lose in a three month period, you get a $5 store credit.  Twenty pounds would make another pair of Finn Casuals possible. Thinking about it. A lot.

Right now, I have to walk. Today I'm climbing Montclair Street from Broadway to 9th Street. The block between Summit and 8th takes my breath away every time. Today. I'm aiming to stop just once.

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update: I made it to 8th Street before I had to stop. It was wonderful. I wonder if I would have pushed myself if I could have made it to 9th without stopping. Maybe next time.
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update 2: I bought tickets. Beth and I are going Friday night. My first trip to a Pennsylvania casino. Hope our Sands starts offering stuff like this. I could walk!

Finally bought walking shoes

My quandary is this. No shoe ever seems to fit. They feel too loose, or too tight, or too something. I think it's because I'm just not used to wearing "real" shoes. I wear Birks 80% of the time. If I put on a closed shoe, I wear it to the office and 9 out of 10 times I kick them off. Bottom line is I don't know how to tell if my shoes fit.

It happened again Friday when I went to try on the Finn Casuals. Again. They felt too loose at the heel. They put in pads, they felt better, but still my heel was lifting. The clerk said your heel should give a little. I was still unsure about the fit and even left the store. Ultimately I came back and bought them. At some point I had to stop trying on shoes and buy a pair. It was decision time. You can tell nothing walking back and forth at a store.

So I decided to buy the most expensive walking shoe on the market. German, hand sewed, repairable, with cork inter soles like my Birks. They are an investment. As I plunked down my debit card I knew this was going to be great, or a really expensive mistake. Wouldn't be the first one.

I was going to wear them that night on my 1-hour faster walk with Betsy. It rained. Then, I was going to wear them the first loop on Saturday. It rained more. So finally on Sunday I cheated on my Birks and wore the Finn Casuals. I have the heel blisters to prove it. I walked 4 miles. Maybe that was too far. Maybe those pads were a bad idea. I'm calling the shoe store today.

I will try them at least two more times before I give up on them for distance walking. I'll give them some time before I give up on the forever. They fit Bonnie well, so she might get some hand-me-downs. I won't be wearing them for either the three-day or the Avon. It's too risky.

I really think I need sneakers for the Philly Marathon. I can't walk a 16 minute miles in sandals. The New Balance 8550 were my second choice. If I go to the New Balance store and try them I'll get a discount. Bonnie found some Nike's that are wide in the front and narrow in the back. Maybe I should try them on too.

Or maybe I should stop distance walking. Life was simpler as a couch potato. I'm disappointed. I had high hopes. I will take some time to wallow and then move forward.

But then I received this email. One of those moments when you think fate is stepping in...
"Ah, the blisters of a new pair of shoes.....it's good luck. Like when you get hit with bird shit. My dad always said it was a special blessing and to thank the bird. So thanks new sneakers!"

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?

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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