Tag Archives: shoes

Speedy Shoes (or Props To Zappos For Saving My Workout)

Posted on January 21, 2015 | Comments Off on Speedy Shoes (or Props To Zappos For Saving My Workout)

When my shoes died during my workout last week, my first thought was that I needed to get my new shoes before my workout on Monday. I have certain shoes by Merrell that I love and I know that they are always available on Zappos.

I’ve been a big fan of Zappos for a while. My very first order with them went pretty badly (the shoes were lost and never found). But their customer service was so amazing! They sent new shoes to me overnight and upgrading my Zappos membership to VIP status for life! Any company that goes that above and beyond is awesome in my book.

By the time I was able to order new shoes, it was about 7pm on Friday. And with Monday being a holiday, I had no idea if my free next business day shipping would get my shoes to me on time.

I ended up contacting them directly to see if there was anything else I could do (or pay) to get them to me by Monday. The representative I spoke to said that there wasn’t really much that could be done. The next day guarantee is only for orders placed by 1pm. But they were looking at where my shoes were coming from and where they were being delivered and thought that there was a chance I would get the shoes on Monday (I didn’t know that UPS delivered on holidays).

When I got my shipping tracking information, it said that the shoes were supposed to arrive Monday by 3pm. I have to leave for my workouts by 3:30pm, so it was going to cut it close.

All day on Monday I was on high alert. And around 1pm, the UPS guy came to my door and dropped this off!

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I put the shoes on right away to try to break them in a little before my workout. And while they weren’t super comfortable right away, they were so much better to wear than the broken shoes.

Yes, this entire post is about how much I love Zappos. But I’ve learned that when you find companies that are awesome, you really want to share it with the world.

So thank you Zappos for rushing my shoes to me so my workout wouldn’t be affected by busted shoes. Now I just need to order a backup pair of shoes so when these break I can have new ones waiting for me in my closet.

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Default ThumbnailShoes! (or The Most Fabulous Items in My Wardrobe) Default ThumbnailA New Challenge (or Who Wants To Come Workout With Me?) Default ThumbnailNew Shoes! (or I’m Glad I Had A Pedicure) Default ThumbnailGetting More Serious (or I Think I Need New Shoes Before Doing Another 5K) Default ThumbnailHitting A Dead End In A Maze (or Maybe I Should Have Had My Dad With Me) Default ThumbnailWeird Workout Times (or My Final Workouts Before My 5K)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Health, Saving, Shopping

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Going To The Limit (or How To Work Out With A Broken Shoe)

Posted on January 19, 2015 | 1 comment

The past week of workouts have been insanely tough! I only got 3 workouts in for the week, even though I wanted 4. Since everyone wants to get into better shape in the new year, it’s been crazy crowded. I have to schedule my classes weeks in advance to make sure that I can get in. And when I didn’t do that for last Saturday, I wasn’t able to work out. Sadly, it looks like I might have the same issue Saturday, but I’m working on it.

Anyway, back to the workout recaps!

Monday’s workout wasn’t horrible, but what got to me was the Monday Challenge. First of all, I was the only person in the entire class to do the challenge after class ended. That made me a bit scared and intimidated, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from doing it.

The challenge was a mini Dri-Tri. So it was .08 miles on the treadmill (I don’t remember what incline it was at, but it was high) to start. Then, 20 burpees. Burpees are still a killer for me and not only do they hurt my hips, I get really dizzy doing them. After I finished the burpees (I had to take a few breathing breaks to do them all), it was a 100 meter row on the rowing machine.

My time was over 3 minutes and I was nowhere near getting on the top 5 board. But I completed it and that’s what I have to remember.

Wednesday was another crazy day where I was doing insane incline work on the treadmill. Since I have issues getting my speed up, to get my heart rate up higher I have to add on more incline than I used to. I’m getting to the point where for most of the push paces I can do the walk at 10% incline. When the push pace is for 3 minutes, that’s when it’s a bit tough for me. But considering that I used to do all my push paces at 6%, it’s a massive improvement. I’m hoping that soon I can start increasing my speed without pain, but until then, it’s nice to know that I can still push myself on the treadmill with incline.

Friday was one of those days for me where the workout was so tough that I didn’t believe that I could really do it all. The treadmill portion was a 21 minute block (many classes have 7 or 8 minute blocks and then you switch between cardio and strength a few times to get all the blocks in). It was a treadmill block that was mainly push paces. And for some reason, my heart rate didn’t want to go up to where it needed to be, so I had to keep pushing myself more and more.

Then, when we did the strength portion, I had what I could have considered a set-back. While I was doing running man on the ground (it’s a move similar to mountain climbers), my foot slid out from underneath me. I thought that maybe the floor was just slick, but I couldn’t get my footing again. I just powered through and for the rest of the workout, I had a crazy tough time doing the running man.

When we were stretching, I took a look at my shoe and realized that a chunk of the bottom of my shoe (where all the grippy things are) was flapping in the air. I had taken off pretty much all the grips off of the bottom of my shoe during the workout!

This photo gives you an idea of the damage, but the blue rubber on my shoe was also coming off.

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I can’t believe I worked out for about 10 minutes with a busted shoe! And I can’t believe that when it happened I just pretty much ignored it.

After class, I showed the trainer what had happened and she cracked up. She wanted a picture of the fact that her workout busted my shoe and then she posted that along with a picture of the 2 of us online and named me the MVP of class (each trainer gets to name an MVP for each of their classes now).

As soon as I got home, I ordered some new shoes online. They are supposed to get here today before my workout, but if they don’t I’ll have to figure out something to do with my broken shoe. I’ve got an emergency pair of sneakers, but they are a little busted too.

Now that I’m on the cleanse, my workouts this week are making me pretty nervous. I’m going to do the best that I can and understand that I might not be able to push myself like I usually do. I’ll let you all know how it goes next week!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Shopping, Weight Loss

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Amazing Customer Service (or I Love Sharing Positive Stories On Here!)

Posted on December 30, 2014 | Comments Off on Amazing Customer Service (or I Love Sharing Positive Stories On Here!)

I’ve shared some pretty horrible customer service stories on here in the past. I don’t like doing that and I don’t want to turn my blog into a place where I call out companies that treat customers poorly. But when bad customer service truly affects my life (like those times mentioned on the blog did), then I feel like I have to share it.

But I’d much rather celebrate some amazing customer service stories on here and help you all find stores/companies that you should support. Recently, I had 2 great customer service experiences and I wanted to let you all know about them.

First of all was an experience that I had at the Nike Store in Beverly Hills. I went there because I knew that I won the Nike ID Challenge at Orangetheory and I wanted to find out what size Nikes I needed to get (I don’t typically wear Nikes).

I was nervous going into the store for 2 reasons. One was that I’m not completely comfortable going into sporting goods or fitness stores. I still feel judged and I’ve had some experiences with employees not helping me as quickly as they would help other guests. The second reason was I knew that I wasn’t going to be buying anything while I was in the store. I wanted to be upfront with the salesperson so they understood that they wouldn’t make a commission off of me, and that could affect how they treated me.

But as soon as I walked into the store, all my fears disappeared. There was a wall of shoes that could be Nike ID customer shoes in front of me.

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A saleswoman (whose name I sadly have forgotten) came over to help me right away. I explained that I had won some Nike IDs and needed to find out my size before I collected my prize, and she was really excited to help me. She knew that I wasn’t purchasing anything that day, but she went above and beyond to make sure I found the perfect fit with the shoe that I’m going to be getting.

She even was asking me all about Orangetheory because she thought it was awesome that a fitness studio gave away Nikes. She took my information so she could join me for a workout at some point.

As someone who works in customer service and used to work for commission, I understand the frustration that this saleswoman probably felt but she never let it show. I hope that with me being so laid back and in no rush to try on shoes (so she could help other customers) that I made it a little easier on her.

We haven’t designed our custom Nike ID shoes yet at Orangetheory, but at least now I know exactly what size I need (and how to stretch them out to fit me a bit better).

My second amazing customer service experience that I’ve had recently was with the Hanukkah gift that my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, and I got for my dad. I found this amazing chair and footstool made out of old skis by doing a search online and as a group we decided to order it for my dad.

I called Green Mountain Ski Furniture to get a bit of clarification on some of the pricing options, but I never heard back. I followed up with an email explaining that I had previously called and left a message and got an email back very quickly from the owner. He apologized for not getting back to me and answered all of my questions to help me complete the order.

He sent me another email as soon as I ordered confirming everything. And when he shipped out the chair, I got 2 emails from the owner. One was the tracking information and the other was a personal email saying how happy he was with how the chair turned out and how he was making sure that the chair would get to my dad before Christmas (even though that didn’t matter it was nice that he made that effort).

The chair got to my parents the day before Christmas and my dad put it together right away. And it looks amazing!

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This chair is going to live up in Tahoe and my parents will bring it up there on one of their next few trips to the mountains.

While almost all customer service experiences that I have are good, I feel like these 2 recently have gone above and beyond. So if you live in LA and need anything from Nike, you should definitely go to the store in Beverly Hills. And if you want anything made out of old skis or snowboards, you have to go with Green Mountain Ski Furniture for your gift!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Final Days Of The Nike Challenge (or How To Work Out When You Can’t Breathe Through Your Nose)

Posted on December 22, 2014 | 1 comment

The Nike ID Challenge at Orangetheory ended this past week. But I ended up having a new challenge during the week because I got sick.

Monday was workout #15 for me for the Nike ID Challenge, so after that workout, I knew that I was going to be winning the shoes. I went to a morning workout that day because of the Tweetup that evening, and it felt very different to me than an evening workout. I’m so used to going at 4:15 that when I work out early, it is a little confusing to me. I’m used to going home after a workout and starting to decompress from my day. This time instead, I went home and got ready for my day.

On Wednesday, I was definitely sick. I felt a little better than the day before, but I was still taking lots of medicine to help me feel better. I tried my very best at the workout, but since I was feeling off, I didn’t do nearly as much as I normally can do. But as my dad always says, it’s all about being consistent in working out, not always having the best workout ever. So by going while I was sick, I was making sure I stayed consistent.

Another fun thing that happened on Wednesday was I got some workout gloves. My workout friend, Sarah, has been using them for a while and loves them. And since I’ve been getting some blisters on my hands from the weights, rowing, and TRX work; I figured I should get some gloves too. They were a little weird to use at first, but I quickly got used to them. And they do make a big difference in how strongly I can grip during my workouts. I’m hoping when I’m feeling better that with this better grip I can use some heavier weights.

Friday was my last workout of the week. Since the Nike ID Challenge was officially over then, I had to go in a bit early to have all of my challenge tasks to be verified. I came prepared with my checklist that I made.

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Everything was fine, so I know for sure now that I am one of the winners and I’ll be getting my free shoes! I can’t wait until we get to design them so I can see what they look like.

Friday’s workout was very similar to Wednesday’s. It turns out the worst day of my cold was Thursday, so by Friday I was finally starting to feel a bit better. But even though I was getting better, I still was coughing a lot and having trouble breathing through my nose. So I tried to take it easy. It’s not simple to do that when I’m really trying to push myself, but I tried. It was a run/row day and I tried to take a little break between the run segments and the row segments (instead of racing from one to the other). After the workout, I was exhausted, but I was so glad that I went.

Now that the Nike ID Challenge is over, I have another challenge to look forward to. There will be a national weight loss challenge and there will be 1 winner out of all the Orangetheory locations participating (the last weight loss challenge was just for the location I go to). I’m totally going to enter the new challenge, but it’s going to be really tough when I can’t see my competitors in my workouts with me. But I know a lot of people at my Orangetheory are hoping that I’ll be able to place in the top 3 and I don’t want to let them down.

But until that challenge starts (I think it begins in a month), I’m just going to focus on getting over this cold and doing everything I can to end 2014 in the best shape I’ve been in for a long time.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Shopping, Weight Loss

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A New Challenge (or Who Wants To Come Workout With Me?)

Posted on November 13, 2014 | 1 comment

A new challenge at Orangetheory was just announced! And again, I’m going to do it!

This one is to get a free pair of Nike IDs (and who doesn’t want to get some free workout shoes?)! There are a lot of rules to this challenge, but I’m going to make a checklist for myself so I make sure that I complete all the tasks.

The first part of the challenge is to go to 15 workouts between November 17th and December 17th. If I had all my regular workouts each week, that still wouldn’t be enough. Plus, one workout the week of Thanksgiving is going to be at a different location. So in order to complete this task, I know I’ll have to add a 4th workout a few times. I’m looking at maybe adding a few Saturdays in there, but again, I’m going to make a checklist so I can make sure that I get all 15 workouts in there.

Then I also have to post 7 photos on Instagram. That actually shouldn’t be a problem. When I was working out during my personal 8 week challenge, part of my deal with Orangetheory was to post a photo on Instagram after every class I attended. This time, there are rules and themes to each photo, but I’ve looked at the list and they shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I think it will be pretty fun!

The 3rd rule of the challenge is to complete 2 Monday Challenges. This will be the easiest thing for me to do. With the exception of the first week of Monday Challenges (where the instructor forgot to mentioned the Challenge), I’ve done the challenges every week. And I have no intention of stopping!

The final rule is something that I need help with. I must have 3 friends come with me to class over the 30 day challenge. So far, I’ve had a bunch of friends say that they want to go, but it’s hard to get people to commit to a certain date. And even though not all 3 guests have to come to the same workout, I need those 3 guests to be there before December 17th.

So I’m putting it out there that I would love some blog readers to come work out with me between November 17th and December 17th. I would love the support and I need it in order to win free shoes!

So who’s with me?

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Girls Shopping Day Out (or Spending Free Money)

Posted on October 15, 2014 | 2 comments

A few weeks ago I got an awesome email from Women In Film. They were going to do a Girls Day Out shopping event. This was going to be held at the South Coast Plaza in Orange County, which is about 45 minutes away from my house.

Usually, these types of events are only open to members of Women In Film who have a higher level of membership than I do. But this time, it was open to everyone!

I RSVPed, and even though I was initially on the wait list, I got off the wait list and officially invited to the event!

I was allowed to bring someone with me, and I had to ask my friend Emily to come with me. She’s a great shopper and I knew that she would love this event!

I got there a little late (I had an appointment that morning and I knew Emily would be a little late too because she had church) and so the VIP suite that we had use of was a little crowded. So I waited outside the room for Emily to get there.

But I did get my amazing gift bags!

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One gift bag was from sugarfina and had some gummy candies in it. The other gift bag was the mall gift bag. It had a map of the mall, the dining options, the schedule of stores that were doing special things for WIF members, and a $100 gift certificate to use at any store in the mall!

Emily arrived shortly after me and we stopped at each store that had special things for WIF members. One store had a bag with a catalog and a perfume sample, another one said it was a typo on the list and they only had a gift with a purchase, and finally there was a store where you could enter to win free UGGs.

A lot of the stores were stores that are very fancy. I joked that the mall was like an inside Rodeo drive.

After doing our laps around the stores, we decided to get some lunch. There was some free food at the VIP room, but since it was so crowded we decided to just go somewhere and pay. We had a nice quick lunch and before I knew it, I had to get back to LA.

I didn’t spend my free $100, but when I looked at the gift certificate it said that it doesn’t expire! So when my money situation is a bit more steady, I’m definitely going there to go shopping!

Even though I only got to spend a little bit of time there, it was a really awesome time! And after I left, Emily used her free $100 to go and get some awesome shoes! I which I could have stayed longer, but I had a very exciting evening planned.

And on a silly note, on the drive home, my car reached a milestone!

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Guess I need to take my car in to be inspected soon!

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Getting Fly (or Spinning With Bloggers)

Posted on May 13, 2014 | 1 comment

As part of being more in the blogging community, I’m trying to get more involved with blogger events. Fortunately, one of the Facebook groups I joined is just for blogger events in Southern California.

One of the first events I saw posted was for a spin class with Biggest Loser trainer Brett Hoebel. Even though I have issues with the show “The Biggest Loser“, I’m still a fan and totally wanted to work out with one of the trainers from the show (he was on season 11).

I signed up for the class and did some more research into it.

The class was held at Flywheel, which is a SoulCycle competitor. Flywheel was created by someone who used to work for SoulCycle, so there is a bit of a rivalry there. When I did some google research, there were some pretty nasty posts saying how much SoulCycle stunk and how amazing Flywheel is. That made me a little weary about going to a new studio, but I was totally willing to give it a try.

According to the Flywheel website, all classes include free shoes, towel, and water. So I didn’t bring anything with me (it felt pretty weird!). The class was held in Larchmont, which was a bit of a drive for me.

Once I walked inside, the first thing I noticed was how nice and open the lobby was.

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I signed my release form and got my Flywheel shoes.

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It did feel weird using spin shoes other than my own. I like my shoes and the clip on the shoes is in a different place (my legs felt weird while spinning because the clip was on the ball of my foot instead of the toe like on my shoes).

I asked at the front desk for the free water, but they explained to me that the free water was in the form of a drinking fountain. The bottles of water were $2. I explained to the person at the desk how on the website they promote the fact that they have free water for every class (and say how bad it is that SoulCycle charges $2 for a bottle if you need one), so she gave me a free bottle of water. I think that that was kind of misleading advertising, but it was my fault for not thinking to bring my own water.

Before the class started, Brett came out to greet us all. It was very cool to meet him, and of course I had to get a picture with him.

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We also took a big group picture with all the bloggers and Brett.

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Brett explained how the class would work and we headed inside.

The setup inside the studio is different from SoulCycle. The bikes are done stadium seating. Everyone is supposed to have a great view of the instructor. I had a great view of Brett’s upper body, but his legs were blocked by the laptop doing the soundtrack (I used the mirror to see how fast his legs were going so I could try to keep up).

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Another thing that was different was in SoulCycle, we focus on riding as a pack and staying on the beat of the music. Flywheel is very competitive. Every bike has a computer on it and it takes your RPM and the torque being used and gives you a score. And every so often, the top ten scores for the class are shown on a flatscreen tv.

I tried really hard to keep up, but between the clips on the shoes being in a different spot and the fact that this was my first spin class where I didn’t get a cushioned bike seat, I was hurting. I did my best, but I never came close to ranking in the top ten on the tv.

I also kept almost laughing at how similar things were to SoulCycle. There were a lot of the same moves (but they had different names). And the stretching segment was done in the exact same order as my SoulCycle class. But I guess that’s what you get when the creator of this studio used to work for the other.

Overall, I’d say this class was a bit harder than SoulCycle. It was a much faster class and there is very little focus on upper body work. Also, it felt more like a competition than a dance party.

I had a great time in the class, but it did reinforce that SoulCycle is the place for me. There’s nothing wrong with Flywheel. I’d totally recommend it, especially to my very competitive friends. But it’s just not for me.

After class was done, we were all given a gift bag full of awesome goodies by Kind Snacks, Vega, and Quest.

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I actually ate my Quest bar on the drive home and it was amazing! I usually don’t like protein bars, but this was really yummy! I’m looking into ordering some to keep on hand.

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I’m so glad that I joined in for this event. I got to try another amazing spin class, meet an awesome trainer, and connected with a ton of new bloggers!

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health

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Getting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House)

Posted on June 26, 2013 | Comments Off on Getting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House)

I live in a pretty small house (it’s about 400 square feet). When I moved into the house over 3 years ago, I was coming from a 2 bedroom apartment that I had shared with roommates that was about 3-4 times the size. So I did a lot of downsizing before I even moved in.

But as I think everyone does, as I’ve lived here, I’ve collected a lot of stuff. Some of it is amazing (like artwork and furniture that makes living in a small space feel more homey). But a lot of the stuff I’ve collected is just stuff. So this weekend, I spent some time getting rid of things that I didn’t need anymore.

I started with my shoes, since I have so many. With the exception of specialty shoes such as my hiking shoes, any shoes that I haven’t worn in 1 year are gone now. Most of the shoes that I got rid of were sandals that used to be comfortable and aren’t now or shoes that no longer fit. I managed to get rid of 4 pairs.

Next, I went to purses. I followed the same rule as my shoes. I took out 5 purses and still have a bunch that I’m debating about. I tend to use one purse all the time until it starts to fall apart. I have a couple of special occasion purses and one that my grandma gave to me that I will keep no matter what, but there are a couple of purses that I’ve used within a year but I question if I’ll use them again.

While I was on my cleaning streak, I also decided to clean my email. We all get emails all the time that we just trash immediately. So I went through the trash mailbox on my email, and I unsubscribed to a ton of things. I lost count after 20, but at least now I won’t have as many emails to deal with on a daily basis.

I didn’t get to my kitchen yet, but that is next on my list. I know I have at least 7 or 8 reusable water bottles. I should be able to survive with just 2 or 3. I also have other kitchen gadgets that I don’t use that often and I want to find a place to store them so I don’t have to take up room in my kitchen.

There are several more projects that I want to do with cleaning up my house. My closet is something I’d like to tackle but I know it will be hard. I have a lot of clothes, mainly because when I find something that fits and is cute, I don’t want to get rid of it. It’s not easy shopping for me. But I’d really like to try to get rid of some things (and use GwynnieBee to supplement my wardrobe).

This project will take several more weekends (mainly because of the sentimental value of the other things I’m trying to clean out). But hopefully in the end, my house will seem less cluttered (and easier to clean as well).

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

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New Shoes! (or I’m Glad I Had A Pedicure)

Posted on June 24, 2013 | Comments Off on New Shoes! (or I’m Glad I Had A Pedicure)

Since my old walking shoes had a big hole in them, I needed to get new shoes before doing any more big walks. I had a full work week last week, but I had time after my half shift on Friday to do some serious shoe shopping.

Shoes and I have a funny relationship. I love shoes, but they don’t love me back all the time. Because of my hip issues, I have to be careful about what I put on my feet. A few years after having my hip surgery, I discovered that shoes with wobble boards in them (the ones that claim to burn extra calories and work out your butt) are the ones that are most comfortable for me. I don’t believe that they burn extra calories, but whatever allows me to walk for hours without pain works for me.

I have a lot of shoes from FitFlop, but they don’t make workout shoes. So when I discovered that New Balance had shoes similar, I bought a bunch of pairs. I had one pair at my house and another at my parents (so I didn’t have to fly with sneakers taking up a lot of room in my carry-on). But the ones with the hole in them were my last pair, and those shoes were discontinued a while back.

Since I loved my New Balance shoes before, I figured I’d try another pair of New Balance shoes (and no, they aren’t paying me to say this). There is a New Balance store near my work in Santa Monica, so I went on Friday.

This was no ordinary shoe shopping experience. Instead of telling the sales people what shoes I wanted to try on, the salesman (whose name is escaping me) brought me over to the shoe fitting area.

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I stood on that platform and there was a computer that took measurements of my feet and where I put pressure when I’m standing. During the measurements, I also told the salesman about my hip issues and explained what type of shoes I’ve like before.

After the foot analysis, the salesman brought over the shoe that he thought would be best for me. He also brought over an insert to put in the shoe to simulate what the wobble board did for me. The shoes weren’t as cute as my old ones, but they are pretty nice.

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I’ll admit, the shoes weren’t as inexpensive as I’d like. But now that I know what shoes (and inserts) work for me, I can be on the lookout for the shoes being on sale (and then I could stock up). I’ve learned the hard way that being cheap with my shoes doesn’t work, so I’m glad that I went for the ones that didn’t hurt me.

I’ve had the chance to do one decent walk with these shoes. And they aren’t the same as my old ones, but they don’t hurt either. I think I just need to wear them in a little bit and then they’ll be perfect.

Sometimes, you have to spend a little more to make things work for you, and workout shoes are one of those things.

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Getting More Serious (or I Think I Need New Shoes Before Doing Another 5K)

Posted on June 18, 2013 | Comments Off on Getting More Serious (or I Think I Need New Shoes Before Doing Another 5K)

After doing 5K #5, I expected to hurt a little. It’s the reality of my life. I ended up hurting a bit more than usual because Sunday happened to be a bad day for my hip, but that’s ok.

But I was really surprised when I was getting dressed for the rest of my day on Sunday and discovered a huge blister on the back of my right heel. The blister was about the size of a quarter and it hurt a lot!

I immediately went to check out my shoes. I thought maybe there was a little pebble in my shoe that I didn’t notice or something like that. I didn’t expect to see this.

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It’s hard to tell in the photo what is going on, so let me explain. The grey part is obviously the lining of the shoe. The yellow is the foam padding that is underneath the lining. And the white is the plastic that is used to reinforce the heel of the shoe. And on the edge of that plastic there is a piece that is breaking off. And my heel was rubbing up against that for the entire race.

It’s no wonder why I have a blister! But I don’t know why I wore my shoes down like that. These aren’t super old shoes, but I’ve had them for about 2 years. And I know that you are supposed to replace your shoes every 300 miles or so, but I guess I just thought that since I don’t do distances over 5Ks, I had more time that the 3-6 months that most websites say.

I have a tough time finding shoes that I like, and sadly the walking shoes I have now were discontinued. They are the New Balance True Balance shoes (the ones that they falsely claimed toned your legs more than other shoes). I did a search online for the shoes and while I did find some on a few sites, none of them had my size.

I’m thinking of trying to go get a real shoe fitting for new walking shoes. Since I know that my New Balance ones fit me nicely, I might bring them with me to the New Balance store in Santa Monica and see what shoes they recommend for me.

Now that I’m doing more than 1 or 2 5Ks a year (and still hope to do a 10K sometime in the future), I probably should look at taking things more seriously and not just as a hobby. I do need to be more aware of the wear on my shoes so that this doesn’t happen again (blisters suck).

Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to the New Balance store at some point this week and I can update you all on some cute new walking shoes!

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