DID CINDERELLA
HAVE THIS PROBLEM?
21 September 2002
Sunday is the AIDS Walk and I'm in a quandary.
Not about what to wear on what promises to be, after all, one of the hottest days this
week (hopefully we will have finished the walk by the time it reaches 100 degrees).
Not about how I'll get home afterwards (Walt will have the car in San Francisco and I
have to find a bus to get back to Davis)
Not about how I'm going to get all the work done this weekend while I'm doing all this
jockette stuff.
My quandary is: what do I wear on my feet?
Imelda Marcos, I ain't. (Heck, I'm not even Peggy!)
I own a grand total of five pairs of shoes:
1 - Birkinstocks, which I bought about 15 years ago when I first started working for
Women's Health. The women there assured me that they were the most comfortable shoes ever
and that once I'd broken them in, I'd never want to wear anything else. Well, the
"break in period" took about 12 years. I would take them out from time to time
and wear them for a bit, but they were always uncomfortable. I guess it was about two or
three years ago when I actually started to wear them as sandals. They are almost kinda
comfortable now, but there is no way I'm walking three miles in them.
2 - A pair of black SAS walking shoes which I bought 3 years ago. My clunky "old
lady" shoes, which I bought when Easy Spirits stopped carrying the shoes I loved in
my size. I've worn these shoes almost exclusively for a very long time, along with
orthotics. Problem is that they really aren't as comfortable as the Easy Spirits and for
some strange reason, they tend to make my ankles sore. I have never figured out why. But
they are definitely not for long walks, despite the label "walking shoes."
3 - A pair of now quite dirty Easy Spirit shoes (about 8 years old), which are probably
the most comfortable ones I own. They are my exercise shoes and my biking shoes. Problem
is that they aren't really sturdy and I wonder how they will hold up on a longer walk on
concrete.
4 - A pair of SAS loafers, which I bought on a whim when I got the clunky old lady
shoes. These have been quite comfortable "work shoes" but as I've lost weight,
they have gotten looser and looser and I am very well aware of the fact that I need to get
a new pair of decent looking shoes that won't embarrass me to wear into polite society.
5 - A pair of official Easy Spirit "walking shoes." I bought these years and
years ago when I had this pipe dream that I would take up walking for exercise. But they
have never fit right and I've worn them so little that the soles aren't even dirty. Maybe
now that I've lost so much weight that the SAS shoes are loose, these will fit better. But
with all the padding and the thick soles--the things that make walking shoes, walking
shoes--my feet feel claustrophobic.
Some time ago, I wrote an
entry about my lifelong hate relationship with shoes, which helps explain why I have
so few shoes and why none of them really fit me.
But it doesn't solve the problem about what to wear on my feet. I may give the walking
shoes a spin around the block and see how my feet respond, but if it's going to be pushing
100° I suspect the last thing I want to do is encase my feet in lots of hot padding.
I'll probably go with the dirty white shoes that I use for biking. I suspect those are
the most comfortable. My fear is that since I've been wearing them for so many years, and
giving them more of a workout in the past year, that with 3 miles of concrete, I'll end up
walking right through the sole.
Where is that rubber soled glass slipper when you need it?
On the sponsorship front, I am totally blown away. I have raised $651 in sponsorship
money and I am so incredibly grateful to all of you who pledged money for my walk
(especially the kid who gave money "in honor of my mother the jockette" !) I
think of Priscilla and all of the other people I've grown very fond of over the years of
working with Breaking Barriers, and I know how much every single dollar pledged is going
to make in keeping the program going.
Thank you, everybody. I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but I have
the best readers on the Internet.
I love you all.
