shoeses

Pragmatism forces me to admit what pride would want me to deny: as much as I love New Balance as a brand, my New Balance walking shoes were a big cause of the pain I suffered during this most recent trans-Korea walk. Armed, now, with the vocabulary of the "wide toe box," I can now scour the internet in search of shoes designed for people in my situation. And mirabile dictu, I've found many candidates, spanning many different brands (including my beloved New Balance). The only problem is that all of these walking/hiking shoes are priced in the $130-$140 range, which is twice as much as I've ever paid for a pair of shoes. Still, it might be worth it to buy an expensive pair: the Good Lord gave us only two feet, so it's up to us to maintain and nurture this gift. As much as I had groused about cutting off my pinky toes, I don't actually want to lose any toes: I'd much rather buy bigger, more comfortable shoes that don't painfully scrunch my digits like sardines.

I'll be starting up my walking regimen again next week; it's been a good two weeks of resting, and I'm itching to get out and walk again before I fatten up too extremely. In the meantime, I'll likely bite the bullet and buy myself a new pair of walking/hiking gunboats for my size 12EEEE feet. I've got my fingers crossed in the hopes that a new pair of shoes will go a long way to solving the toe-crunch problem. More news on this as it happens.