High Heels: WTF, Ladies?

image: maxpixel

By Crabby McSlacker

There are some ways in which I definitely have a girl brain, not a boy brain. But in other ways, I am a dude. I sometimes find my own gender to be an alien species, incomprehensible in its motivations and reasoning and habits. 

(For a more complete elucidation of my cluelessness about female behavior, I wrote a much longer post years ago about Women and the Quest for Beauty. Like so many ancient Cranky Fitness posts, it lingers undisturbed in the archives, gathering dust and long forgotten, yet it's better than the stuff I write now. Which makes me a little sad. Though not sad enough, apparently, to devote more time to current blog efforts). 

Anyway, this is just a brief and pissy rant on a small subject of the topic: high heeled shoes. And since so many of you wear them, either grudgingly or enthusiastically, I'd love to hear your vocal defense of your choices in the comments. 

But let me get you good and riled first!

Altra Shoe Giveaway! And Torin and Intuition 3 "Zero Drop" Walking Shoe Review

By Crabby McSlacker

So I scored some Altra Torin and Intuition 3 shoes to review, yay! (And, in the interests of full disclosure, got to keep them).  And, better yet: one lucky Cranky Fitness reader can win a pair of Altra's of their choice. Cool, no?

But those of you who are already hip to Altra's are probably going: WTF, Crabby?  The Torin's and Intuitions are running shoes, not walking shoes, you misinformed nincompoop!

Steppin' Out

Is this a review of a couple of nifty shoes for outdoor activities, the Tilden IV by Ahnu and the Power Walk 503 by Prospecs?

Or is it just an excuse to reminisce a bit longer about hiking and beachin' and kicking back on our recent trip to Maui?

Well yeah, you guessed it. It's both!

Plus, the post features a couple of different perspectives, as The Lobster was put in charge of reviewing (and keeping) the Ahnu's.

Being savvy photo-bloggers, we took the shoes to Hawaii, and then kinda forgot about the "review" part of the "get cool shoes free and then review them" thing.  So of course we have a lot of photos with the feet chopped off.

But, we promise we will get to the shoes too!

Hi, I'm the Ahnu Tilden IV!

And hey there, I'm the Prospecs 503!

Ask Cranky Fitness: running shoes & exercise break ups

The good news: yes, it's another Ask Cranky Fitness post!
The bad news: it's a Merry-based post. Ms. Crabby is off making sure Michelle is doing her arm exercises correctly.
Okay, that's a completely untrue rumor that I just made up. Actually, she's off making the world safe for slackers. Which is an important job, even if it doesn't involve many trips to the White House.


Dear Cranky Fitness,

For nearly two years, I have been in a monogamous relationship with my running shoes. I haven't been consistent about running, but whenever I exercise I wear these shoes. They've been good years, on the whole, but now I'm starting to wonder if we should break up.


"Experts," i.e. people who run more than I do, say it's not good to be exclusive with one pair of running shoes for more than six months, as the wear-and-tear on the shoes could damage your feet/knees/joints. But these experts are hardcore runners. I'm more of the softcore type, myself -- isn't it okay to wear them longer?

signed,
Runaround Sue

Dear Sue,

We feel your indecision. Or at least, I do. Crabby runs circles around me (and squares, and sometimes even polygons).

People who are addicted to running get so they can usually tell when it's time to go shopping. If you're not sure, try this: get another pair of running shoes as backup. Switch back and forth between the new and the old pairs. When your original pair start to feel less springy/cushiony/comfortable than the newer pair, that's a sign. Or, if your foot starts to hurt after running, that's another sign. If you start running on a more regular basis, then definitely go for the hardcore approach and shop more often. You can either pay at the shoe store or at the foot doctors.

Dear Cranky Fitness,

I have a relationship problem. I finally found a partner who seemed like the perfect match: we were both somewhat out-of-shape but wanted to become fit meisters. She's a one-time athletic friend who has gained a lot of weight in the last year or so, and she really sounded enthused when I used words like "5k" and "training." Now, she complains about how her leg muscles hurt when we do even a quite easy walk. I'm worried -- she used to run rings around me, but now she can't keep up? I would swear I haven't improved -- at least I haven't gotten thinner -- so maybe she's becoming ill and I shouldn't expect her to train with me. What do I do? Should I go on alone or wait for her to keep up with me?

signed,
Anxious in Arizona

Dear AA,

Sorry. I know the excitement of thinking you've finally found The One: an exercise partner who can keep pace without leaving you in the dust or holding you back as you try to improve. Face the fact that no one is perfect, not even an exercise partner. A friend will try to understand as you forge ahead, but will probably feel hurt all the same. If she's truly a friend, then I suggest you think of your outings together as good occasions for bonding, not as training. Do training on your own if you have to. Join running clubs, or cycling groups, or exercise on your own until you're up to joining a formal group. Keep your friend, and honor your time with her as good in its own right.


Dear Cranky Fitness,

How do I get my relatives to stop spamming me? I wouldn't mind it if they wanted to communicate via email, but the only time I get something from them it's a chain letter that's been forwarded 10,287 times, and has 26 lines of email addresses, 1 subject line, and 2 lines of pink text with a picture of a saccharine kitten. They never check Snopes.com before forwarding the latest Nigerian-Prince-needs-a-new-lung-because-his-kidneys-were-stolen story, and they don't seem to get it that I Don't Want To Hear It. What can I do to make them stop, aside from changing my email address or leaving the country?

signed,
Email Rebel


Merry: Um... Crabby... doesn't anybody screen these emails? What's this got to do with health fitness or... oh damn. I suppose it does come under the heading of 'whining.'

Dear ER,

At this point, I should probably say something Zen-ish like 'you cannot change others, you can only change yourself.' Unfortunately, someone borrowed my only copy of Zen and the Art of Enigmatic Wisdom, so I don't have any profound koans to offer.

The best thing I can say is that this is a great opportunity to practice patience. And respond to their emails with a Snopes link pointing out why their email was a hoax. It won't help to do this; at least, in my experience these people almost never read emails, they just send them. But it might teach them not to be so credulous.

Evil thought... you could always open a post office box near your home, then send them emails about how if they send cash to this address, they'll receive the winning ticket from the National Nigerian Lottery. Okay, no, don't do it. No, really. It was just an evil thought. Patience, grasshopper. Patience and Snopes.com.

What, you don't like these answers? Please, please feel free to offer comments on when to get new running shoes, or how to break up with an exercise partner, or spam meisters!

MBT Shoe Winner

So congratulations, Azusmom, you are the winner in the MBT shoe giveaway!

Please contact us before Friday night, Sept 26th (midnight EST) by emailing crabbymcslacker @ gmail dot com. If you happen to have your shoe choice, shoe size, and mailing info that would be nifty. (If it turns out your favorite isn't available, then we'll figure out something!)

And thanks to all who commented with so many dang good reasons to walk!

30 Reasons to Walk (MBT Giveaway)

[By Crabby]




We are big fans of walking here at Cranky Fitness. What's not to like about walking? It's cheap, relatively easy, entertaining, and very healthy.

In fact, even though I'm generally a cranky ol' crab, I seem to get unusually cheerful when blogging about walking--whether it's my favorite place to walk in the whole world, or my strange summer night-time ramblings. (OK, so maybe not so cheerful when discussing how to pee outdoors when taking a walk in the woods. I can always find something to whine about.) But generally: we're huge fans of walking here.

So when I heard MBT was doing a campaign celebrating 30 Reasons to Walk, naturally my first thought was: "Give us some free shoes!" "What a great idea!"

But rather than go on again about why I like to walk, I thought I'd let you folks share some good reasons you have for walking. And give you a chance to maybe win some free shoes.


About The Giveaway

Yes, MBT did generously offer to donate a pair of shoes for us to give away. If you are a U.S. resident (or have a U.S. friend you want to play for) just leave a comment telling us a reason you walk. Winner will receive a pair of MBT shoes of their choosing (assuming the style/size is available; if not, we'll find something from MBT you like).

The winner will be chosen by the Random Number Generator. However, the "best" 20 entries will be given triple credit and will be assigned 3 numbers instead of one. ("Best" can mean funniest, most creative, most motivational--whatever.)

Want some inspiration? The 30 Reasons to Walk site has 30 ideas you can swipe for your comment. And they've also got a daily shoe giveaway contest of their own. (It's not clear about residency requirements, but I didn't see anything about nationality in the entry form). Plus, they've got 30 walking songs that are free to download. (And lots of them are actually really good ones; I was surprised!)

Note: If you are not a U.S. resident and are feeling grumpy about all these darn U.S. only giveaways, feel free to leave an aggrieved comment about the situation, or tell us why walking sucks, just to be contrary. Whatever. We love comments, and I can totally relate: because of our contract with Blogher, we can't get free MBT's either. And I'd love some).

Contest deadline: Tuesday, midnight EST, September 23rd;
Winner Announced: Wednesday, September 24th:
Winner needs to email Cranky Fitness by: Friday, Sept 26th, midnight EST in order to claim the prize; otherwise we'll redraw.

About the Shoes:

Check out the coolness of these shoes over at the anti-shoe site. A lot of technology has gone into them: according to the MBT folks, the shoes are "designed to limit harmful impact to joints, improve posture and tone muscles—including saving the back, lifting the butt, toning the thighs, and flattening abs. Wearing MBTs mimics walking barefoot in sand and engages core muscles... just by standing."



(However, we promise they won't turn you skin blue in the process).

Aetrex Shoe Winner and Call for Help!

[By Crabby]

First off, here's the call for help part. (I'll make it quick, 'cause I know what you really want to know is WHO WON THE SHOES??)

Is there a reader out there who uses Windows Vista who would be willing to help us test out the new template we're working on?

It could be either a really quick thing ("Yep, looks fine!") or a bit more of a pain if it turns out it's not Vista friendly and we need to make changes and retest.

I imagine we'll test a trial version first, and then after we go live, double check that the real version works too. Not sure exactly when this will all happen, but sometime in the next few days, so if we got more than one volunteer that would be cool so we had some scheduling flexibility.

If you're interested, please either email us at crabbymcslacker @ gmail. com (no spaces) or leave a comment on this post with your email address. Thanks!


Now on the the Shoe Winner!

The winner of the Aetrex shoe giveaway, selected by random number generator is: Rismom16!

Rismom16, please email us by Friday Sept 19th (midnight, EST) to claim your prize. Make sure to include your shoe size, mailing address, and your name (unless your postal carrier can deliver to Rismom16.)

Those of you who are you not Rismom16? So sorry! But we've got more great Friday giveaways coming up.

Running Shoe Giveaway!

[By Crabby]




Cool, huh? These awesome Aetrex High Performance running shoes are up for grabs! Check 'em out!

By now, you know the drill. Details on why the shoes are so nifty and how you can win a pair can be found below, so Giveaway Skimmers, feel free to skip down.

However, those who are not U.S. residents, who are not wearers of women's lavender running shoes, or who actually come to the blog to read the ramblings of a Confused Crab--have a seat! Kick off whatever shoes you may be wearing, and join us while we discuss the shocking subject of:

Inappropriate Sneaker Love! (Also known as Kedophilia?)

I have to confess to a bad case myself. I love athletic shoes! Hiking shoes, cross trainers, even soccer cleats--but mostly running shoes. In particular, trail runners. I wear them all over the place, like a perpetual kid.

In fact my closet is full of them, help!

And it's not like I buy that many, either, it's just that I grow so attached to them all that I can't throw them away. Even when they have holes in them and no practically no tread left. When I can't wear them to run I wear them to walk; when I can't wear them to walk I wear them to do mucky chores, and when I have too many "yard shoes" I still hang onto them, God knows why.

Perhaps it's a related to my other shoe disorder: dress-shoe-a-phobia. High heels are particularly feared, but anything firm and tight and pointed and shiny is to be avoided unless there's a funeral or something.

No Thanks!

I was like that as a kid, too. I hated "school" shoes (I believe they were saddle shoes, back then). But my sneakers? Couldn't get me out of them. My Mom would try to throw them away when they were full of holes, but I'd dig them back out of the garbage again.

(They looked a lot like these except totally trashed).

Anyone else have this problem? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

So enough about Crabby's old shoes and the wonderfulness of athletic shoes generally. Let's talk about the Aetrex shoes and how you can win 'em!

About the Shoes:
These babies are the Aetrex z591 Web Runner for women. (I think the "web" they're referring to is probably not the World Wide Web; it must have to do with the webbing on the shoe. But heck, feel free to use them for virtual internet running activities if that's your thing). The shoes come in medium width; sizes 5-12.

To quote a knowledgable source, they've got: "supportive cushioning for medium and high arch feet, Aeromax mesh upper with Web Fushion Technology, Sky midsole for soft, long-lasting cushioning, Web Suspension Footbridge for reinforcement and support and PRS Midsole Technology for pressure relief. "

The Aetrex folks have been around forever, and have been well-known for their very fine orthopedic shoes and orthotics, but now they've apparently decided to take that technological know-how and stuff some of it into a new line of high performance running shoes. They also got something called "iStep," which is a "digital foot analysis device" found at various retailers, which can measure and analyze your feet and their issues and give you a"blueprint" suitable for framing, or perhaps more pragmatically, for fitting you with customized insoles.

To Enter the Drawing for the Aetrex Shoes:
Just leave a comment! Alas, the shoes can only be sent to U.S. residents, which is always heartbreaking, since we love our international readers.

A Random Number Generator will choose the winner Tuesday night, Sept 16th; winner announced Wednesday, Sept 17th. If you win, please email to claim your prize by Friday Sept 19th.

And have a great weekend!

Give back to the track, Jack!

[By Merry]

The Nike World Campus in Oregon

Want to make yourself feel good? Sure you do.
Got any old running shoes that you really should get rid of? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay, here's the deal. You can recycle your old shoes.

Reuse-A-Shoe is a program sponsored by Nike. Worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collectedand recycled into material used in sports surfaces like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world.

Not just any shoes

For some reason, they wouldn't accept these...

They have to be athletic shoes. Specifically, they will recycle:

• Athletic shoes only (any brand)
• No shoes containing metal
• No cleats or dress shoes
• No wet or damp shoes

Sounds great! Where do I drop them off?

They've put together a website of places to drop off old shoes in the U.S. And another for places to drop off old shoes in Europe or Australia. Sadly, they need to realize how great Canadians are at recycling. At least Nike's trying. I'll give them credit for that.

Just don't try to donate used gym clothes

Is this something that everyone who's anyone has known about for years? Are you all sitting back and yawning, thinking to yourself "That Merry! She really needs to get out more -- everybody knows about this!" If so, are there any other really cool recycling programs I should know about? I know you can recycle old cell phones by donating them to women's shelters and places like that. Any others that I've missed?