Wednesday, April 24, 2013

I Have Ugly Feet!

I'm declaring Wednesday "Get Real" day, and here is my REAL fact:

My feet are ugly!

I don't mean the typical runner ugly - I mean ugly.  Period.
I wasn't born that way.  I am quite sure that my little baby feet were quite plump and kissable.  But they were also rather wide, so when I started school and had to wear shoes all day, my capacious feet were bound up in too narrow shoes which eventually caused my 4th toe to sit up on top of the others.  When I think back to my childhood, I cannot remember any shoe ever feeling comfortable.  It seemed perfectly normal for my feet to be tormented all day.

I spent a lot of time trying to hide my feet.  All shoes had to cover my toes and I avoided any situation where I might be barefoot in public.  I remember being at the beach with friends and trying to bury my toes in the sand with each step so they couldn't be seen.

But today - Get Real Wednesday - I am revealing my ugly feet to total strangers in internet-land!  I am so brave! 


I DID warn you!

As an adult, my one goal has been to find comfortable shoes that will actually fit my feet and hide their ugliness.   I have never been able to enjoy shopping for "cute" shoes.  Most of my shoe shopping trips end in tears.  Not figurative tears - real tears, streaming down my face, of frustration and sadness.

I have 3 pairs of orthopedic sandals that I wear year-round.  They all look basically like this:
Orthaheel Sandals - most comfortable shoes I've ever worn!

 I wear them with pants, shorts, dresses and pajamas.  They are uber-comfortable.  They are not fashionable.

Yesterday while shopping at TJ Maxx, I found.... drum-roll, please......
cute shoes that were comfortable and looked good on my feet!


 This is the first pair of high heeled shoes I have purchased in 2 or 3 years!  I just love them!

One of the unforeseen benefits of running, is that I have now joined an entire community of ugly-footed people!  Blisters, callouses, black toenails, missing toenails.   No one even bats an eye.  They are just par for the course.  Perfectly normal. 
Why, I fit right in!

Just another thing I love about being a runner!

Do you have any physical flaws that you try to hide?
 

12 comments:

  1. First: You ARE brave!
    Second: Thanks for the hook up on the cute, comfy low-heeled sandals! I gave up wearing heels when I took up running and am always on the lookout for good, cushioned, cute sandals.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AH! Julianne! It is so nice to have a real name for you - besides Middle-Aged Runner :) I do love Orthaheel. They have some pretty cute sandals if you can wear flip flops and such. Best - they help keep Plantar Fasciitis problems at bay. I discovered these when I had a really nasty case of PF, and have stuck with them ever since.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi "Flaming June"! First of all, thank you for this post. Extremely brave...good for you! I am very familiar with having ugly feet and am finding many others that feel the same. I started a blog a few years ago www.ugleefeet.com. I hope you will check it out - if you would like to submit a guest post I'd love to have you!!! I have an ebook coming out soon also and will see that you get a copy to review. Thanks again, we need more brave people like you to "out" their feet!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have the same type of feet. I am afraid to wear thong sandals and usually wear ones the go across the toe area. I wear a lot of heels, mostly peep toes and wedges similar to the one in the photo. I know exactly how you feel because I have felt the same way too. The funny thing is today my friend gave me a nice pair of thong sandals which are extremely comfortable and I decided that I am going to wear my sandals. Maybe with a long dress...LOL... Thank you for this post! I don't feel so alone anymore :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I Have The Same Feet :c Can surgery be involved? LOL I hate itnwhwn summer comes and I cant wesr flip flops :c

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh my goodness!! you are really brave! i have the same thing.. ive always felt so ugly and try to hide it as much as possible.
    why does this happen? could it have been preventable?

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's called Brachymetatarsia. Google it. There's a world of people with that foot abnormality. I'm one of them. I just flew to AZ a month ago and had Dr. David Lee do a surgery to fix it. no regrets and I can move on and put my ugly foot behind me. Thanks to bloggers like yourself I realized I wasn't the only one with it and Found Dr. lee. He's made a dream come true. I would recommend him and the whole trip so you never have to hate your feet again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How much did that surgery cost? I have the same problem, but have an extra nail at the last left toe.

      Delete
  9. mine are like this too but I don't hide my feet anymore, I've learnt to embrace my special feet!😋

    ReplyDelete
  10. My is like your too but i hide my feet went I´m at school but went I am out of school i don't hide my feet because I don't know out of school but i still showing me feet is my fear so that is why I not show my feet because think that people going to judge me and I thought that I was the only one that have feet like this but I'm not there are people that have like me 😊😊🙂

    ReplyDelete