How My Skechers Helped Me Walk Without Pain Again

There are a few Canadian bloggers out there that can attest to the fact that I like to walk. Living in a condensed city, it’s sometimes much easier and faster to walk from A to B, rather than driving there or sometimes even using transit. Much to their consternation, I will lead friends to where they want/need to go with little thought to distance; which doesn’t help when they ask, “How much farther?” and I answer with “We’re… close-ish.”

It should also be a running joke now, whenever I go to a blogging conference, that I always wind up wearing shoes that somehow break my feet. Sometimes it’s my ankle or heel, sometimes my toes… there was this one weekend at BlogHer where I had hurt my feet in nearly every way imaginable in the span of 48 hours. Also managed actually to break the shoes too, (erm, thinking on that thought, that last bit happened at both BlogHers I’ve been to.) Sandals and wedges and BlogHer conferences don’t mix for me.

Also? The lasting average before a pair is completely ruined for me is about 5 months. I’m kinda rough with my shoes.

One thing that I’ve never mentioned to anyone though, but TheHubs, is that my feet have experienced quite a bit of constant pain over the past year. Back in early April, it got bad enough that I asked for help, as I was limping from the moment that I woke, there wasn’t any relief day in or out. The doc gave me two fancy words: “plantar fasciitis,” and I have to wonder if its somewhat hereditary, ’cause I’m not the only one in the family to have this on their medical resume. After determining that I’ve tried ALL of those pillow/gel inserts at the drug store, with absolutely no relief, the only course of action according to him would be orthotics.

I never ended up taking that prescription to a specialist though.

I’m not usually one for playing with my health like that, but I had a greatly vain reason why not to pick up a pair of specialized shoes, which made me very hesitant to go find the right pair of shoes for myself. If this is your first time on this site, I have only recently been able to “show off” my love of fashion, because “plus-size” + “fashion” didn’t always = fabulous (and it largely still doesn’t in Canada, but we’re making waves.)  The bottom line was, I didn’t want to have to figure out what to wear based on what I could only imagine as dull, bland, orthotic shoes.

And I’m not fully basing my idea that orthotics are bland on imagination alone. A few members in my family have these types of shoes, and don’t tell them I said this, but they’re kinda fugly. (The shoes, not the family.)

A week before the  trip to the doc’s, I was very lucky to experience a tour of Skechers headquarters in Mississauga. I say “lucky” for a reason. Before this point, I hadn’t owned a pair of Skechers since my LA Gears back in grade 4. I didn’t have anything against them, I remember loving my LAs quite a bit; fate took me in a different direction I guess.

There was so much pretty from current lines, for nearly every occasion,  on display to showcase that they’ve come a long way throughout the years! I even almost got left behind, once the tour was done, deep within the bowels of shiny, pretty shoes, true story. It’s totally a place where I could easily live though, so I was kinda bummed when they found me before the bus left.

At this Skechers event, we all wound up with a pair from their On-T-Go line. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have seen these beauties. They were so light weight, I wouldn’t notice them in my purse if I were to carry them around.

//instagram.com/p/mINxbVKu8K/

Like all other walking shoes I’ve owned, these didn’t last very long, but they gave my feet a freedom that I hadn’t felt in a year.

Also? My feet suck without adding plantar faciitis (pf) to the mix. There are not many pairs of shoes out there that don’t give me blisters on the back of my heels from the first few weeks to always-and-forever, whenever I try to break a new pair in.

These cuties from Skechers though?  Not a single blister since the first time I put them on.

They’re just awesome.

It’s not like the pf disappeared the moment I put these babies on.  Its a type of pain at the base of my heel that would make itself constantly felt, even while I was asleep.  I was gambling that these Skechers walking shoes couldn’t do any more harm to my feet than what was done already (and constantly thinking out an OOTD post to showcase them in;) what I hadn’t counted on though, was they actually made my feet feel better gradually. It was a bit of a shock, but I would wear them absolutely every single time I could get away with wearing walking/nautical-looking shoes, as it felt like I was walking on pillows. I was starting to cringe whenever I couldn’t wear these slip-ons when going out.

It took two months for me to realise I was no longer walking in pain.  I was shocked.  Actually stopped what I was doing at the time (which was getting my shoes on for a long walk around town with TheHubs,) and had a “Huh.” moment.  We both wondered if my feet had just healed themselves on their own (unlikely, as this pain had gone on for a year,) and I don’t think pf ever goes away, once you’ve hurt your feet the first time.

I cried when my cute Skechers On-The-Go broke in early August.  It was during the last stretch of an 11km walk TheHubs and I took in and around High Park on a beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon.  We played ball with a gorgeous little dog named Megs that we had just met at the park, and caught some of the colourful flora and even some adorable fauna on my Canon T3i, and it was just a perfect day; until one of my shoes wound up with a whole at the bottom and then I was more on the lookout for glass instead of the distinct birds you can find if you have the patience for watching in that huge park.

I had my proof that it was the Skechers shoes that helped my feet feel free of pain, ’cause that pain was coming back a week later.

When I could find the time (how did August and September get so busy yo?) I went to the Stockyards Mall and found a new pair of Skechers to love (Elite, and wide-width, woot!)

This pair did give me blisters, but only for the first 3 days, and they have a much different heal than the On-The-Go pair, which is why they rubbed awkwardly.  Otherwise, this pair doesn’t hurt at all now, and they too have helped my feet from ever feeling that pf injury.

So, that’s it, I’m hooked.  Skechers has a huge collection of shoes that meet nearly every occasion, which means I’m just gonna have to build on my home collection more.  Did you see that pair of white booties up on that top image?  I want.