Time to hit the ground running.. Just don't break an ankle in the process!!

Giant footed women of the world, unite!
(Just at some other shoe store)

*****Just a little warning for those of you who have some sort of weird fear of FEET and someone even brushing yours in the middle of the night wakes you up, then this post is not for you....(especially one of my best friends--- Seriously... You know who you are... And if you read this I know you have come SO far in the last year. Just call me if you need therapy afterwards!! I'm here for you!!). This post has a lot to do with FEET and contains graphic FEET pictures.  So if the simple word being printed all in caps makes you queezie-- turn back now and click the little X at the top of your web browser to get outta dodge!*****

So, I've been told for quite some time that if I wanted to run...Really run... That I would need to get the proper running shoes.  Naturally-- I tried to outsmart those folks and picked up some discount shoes from Marshall's for my birthday last year. Pshaaa.. Shoes are shoes, right??

This is fairly accurate

I got an awesome looking pair of New Balance and a pair of Pumas....  I was READY-- or so I led myself to believe.  Today, almost a year to the day from my last shoe purchase-- I set foot into a running store that I've been casing for about 2 weeks now.

But the thought of a running store never really left my head.  So of course, like any other decent human being would do, I decided to stalk a store for a while.  I drove by, walked by, peeked inside but never actually put my foot down and walked in until very recently.  Truth be told, I found out quite a bit about myself and others while I was there.. I tried on some awesome shoes and had to order a pair to come in right around the time of my birthday!

So, while I was there-- the awesome store manager John and I got along like peas and carrots. We laughed, we cried (because we laughed so hard), we told inappropriate jokes (well mostly I did, but he laughed...)  But the most important thing is, I learned some things that I would have never known had I kept tip-toeing around the front door forever.  

Who would have thought you'd have learned so much at a shoe store-- but I did and here it is:

1. After going through the whole consultation where they throw you up on a treadmill, have you jog a bit and film it... I am REALLY curious as to how I have made it through life without constantly face planting with each and every step I take.. Seriously... My foot hits the ground and curves in so bad that I look it could snap at any given moment. Next thing you know, I'll be walking around with a cane just to keep my legs from crumbing under me. Not anymore though!  Got the call yesterday that the shoes are IN.

Corrective shoes on the left shot, ankle breaker on the right.

Little less fear of instant snap-dom, but still there.

2. Once I stepped down off the treadmill of ankle breaking torture-- I learned that it is O-fficial folks.. My right leg - yeah.... it is slightly longer than my left... Which is also the reason for the right ankle looking as thought it could blow at any second. In all my (almost) 36 years you would think a person would know that about themselves.  I have been hobbling around blindly with absolutely no knowledge of my strange, yet apparently common, deformation.  BUT if you take the attitude that you learn something new everyday then you can also learn something new about yourself every day.  And that, my friends, is progress.  Just wondering what's next though-- what else do I have that's bigger than the other besides the (now obvious) leg and the common knowledge boob.

Want smaller feet? 

3. So, on to the next thing.  Folks, everything really is bigger in Texas-- especially women's feet.  I don't know if this is an urban legend that the store manager and I just cultivated.. But after being told that the man that places the order lives up north in the New York area and he skimps on the women's larger sizes down here, we came to the conclusions that they don't have as many women with larger feet up there.  That observation, naturally,  led us to believe that women bind their feet anywhere north of West Virginia.  That or we all have the genes and giant feet of Cinderella's ugly step-sister down here and they all got the "Cinderella, how in the heck do those tiny things support her whole  body--- oh yeah she's a cartoon" syndrome up there.

What I feel like in most shoe stores...

4. Continuing on in the spirit of everything being bigger in Texas--When I was born my mother got her feelings hurt by a doctor that said, "My!  She's got HUGE feet!!"  Well... sorry mom, but the verdict is in.  I was meant to be a giant, with freakishly huge feet-- yet somehow stopped getting taller at 5'5 (and a half).  But what came as even a bigger surprise than my ability to stand on two legs without snapping them was this--- Where I thought I was a size 10-- I am not.  In athletic shoes I actually have to strap size 11 boats to these giant roots.  Not only are MY feet bigger, apparently they recently had a marathon and there were THREE size 11's left in the entire store because all of the big footed women bought them out.  Wonder if they all have a longer leg too and we're all a bunch of lopsided ladies walking, jogging, sprinting, and running around Texas.  Now, for the record, he did say your feet swell while running and you should always have a size bigger...Which was an awesome thing to learn... So 11's in running shoes, check!  Back to my dainty 10's in dress shoes, whew!

Not my favorite color
but fits like a glove...
or a shoe I mean.

5. And finally.... One of the biggest lessons I trotted away with was this.  Running shoes are a lot like people... It doesn't matter what the outside looks like-- it is what's on the inside that counts.  I liked the red, fancy ones but they were a no go. We were never going to happen and I kissed them farewell as they slipped back into their boxes and waited for the perfect fit to come along and snatch them up.  While there are plenty of shoes in the store, there was only ONE in my size in the entire company out of the 20 some odd stores they have.  I was a little disappointed at first but John reminded me that I have to let go of the color and welcome the corrective comfort! He did say I could go for another one but this one was much cheaper, and on my budget-- I would be able to get a few other things from the store to help me get to where I want to be.  There are more important things than the color of the shoe.

It isn't a glass slipper but it is my perfect fit!

So, moral of the story is?  Heck- I dunno.. I didn't really have a "moral".. Just wanted you to know how my Saturday went and what an awesome experience I had at The Texas Running Company!! :)  Thank you John for finding my glass slipper!

Just a little side note here.. I went back to get my video today (which I could not upload to save my life so screenshots will have to do!)  I also found out-- lesson number 6.  I have been tying my shoes incorrectly for years-- and picking on a friend for taking so long to do hers!  I'm sorry friend!! You know who you are and I will never speak ill of waiting the extra time it takes for you to lace those things up!  Lace on sista...... lace on.