These Vagabond Shoes

I finally did it: I bought new shoes. I got them at a DSW in New York and I threw away my old Nikes that I’ve had for about 5 years. You may recall me complaining about the old shoes once or twice (or, if you’re Kane, 1000 times); they were so worn out that they were becoming quite useless. They still had the parts that allowed the shoe to physically hold onto my foot and I think that’s the only reason why I still wore them. The underside was so worn down that little flaps had formed that scraped when I walked. Water could get in from the bottom and holes near the toes on top. The inside heel was worn completely away and a piece of whatever’s-inside-a-shoe would flip over and stab my heel every time I put my feet in. It was getting to be ridiculous.

I had refused to buy new shoes in Australia because they are heinously expensive as compared to the States. I tried to buy shoes before we left for Australia, 2 years ago, but ended up running out of time before I found any I liked. I also tried to purchase some on our visit to California last year, but again could not find any I liked. I was being too picky, I will admit. And I paid for it with increasingly decrepit shoes. But alas, DSW provides.

I didn’t want to buy anything in NY because it would just mean I’d have to carry it back to CA, which I thought was sort of silly since there’s pretty much all the same stuff for purchase here. So I restrained myself in the block-long Macy’s. But if I replaced my old shoes I wouldn’t have anything additional since I would just chuck them on the spot. Flawless logic - let’s buy things.

After searching through the mile-long row of women’s athletic shoes at DSW, I became painfully aware that my feet do not fit into “normal-sized” women’s shoes anymore. At least not athletic shoes. I used to wear a size 10, but apparently not anymore. Either the shoes are smaller or my feet or bigger but either way, it’s not working. Apparently it’s inconceivable to the DSW at Union Square that a full grown woman would have feet this large. My feet are so ridiculously oversized that I must be some sort of rare phenomenon - like big foot (ha) or a yeti, minus all the hair on the feet.

Kane finally suggested that I just skip over one aisle and try on some men's shoes. He pointed out that there really isn't much difference between men's and women's athletic shoes except that the women's ones are smaller (detrimentally so, apparently) and sometimes have pink on them. The men's shoes weren't so bad, really, except that I ended up having to buy a size that really did look like it should only fit on a man. My shoes are shown to the left.

I wear a men's size 9.5 in Asics shoes. A European size 43.5. Seriously, ogre in the house.

I decided to get Asics because they make gel shoes. It's new (ish), it's high tech, it's super comfy. I tried on some Adidas and they felt nice. So did the New Balances. But the Asics gel shoes were a step above (pun certainly intended). They made the others feel like a slab of cardboard under my tender feet; the gel felt like walking on a fluffy feather bed. Plus, Kane mentioned that his dad swears by them. Not that his dad "likes" Asics gel shoes, but that he indeed places his right hand onto the shoes and swears. Maybe that would be "swears on them", but whatever. The man is serious about his gel. And I don't argue with an ex-All American Wrestler when it comes to athletic shoes - I just hand over my credit card.