Travel Needs

When I travel (and even when I go about my everyday), I tend to think to myself, "Kira, what do you need to make this experience better/easier/complete?"

I quickly jot down my revelations (thank you wunderlist app), or I will forget them.

TRAVEL PURSE
On my California trip, I realized I need a travel purse/backpack.  I'd rather carry in a backpack form, but I do not want to be stuck with a backpack for the entire trip.  Therefore, I needed a quick-change artist purse.

Enter the Sherpani Soleil lightweight tote.  Not perfect, but utterly suitable for my needs.



Vogue 8884


Vogue 8346

WINTER CLOTHING
In Yellowstone, I discovered that I need a wintery coat that can withstand: cold, wind, and rain.  And it needs to completely cover my bum.  Two thin-ish layers of clothes on my lower half did not keep me warm enough in 30 F degree weather (0 C) while the wind blew strands of my hair into the next state.  I spent several hours cold and uncomfortable while on this trip.

For travel, do I want something shorter?  Or longer?

To be discovered ...


Vogue 7881

Along with the above, lined pants would be great for cold weather adventure.  I've flirted with making flannel-lined pants before, and the result was not ... useable.  However, I'm ready to tackle them again.

Flannel-lined pants will need to be looser than typical, but you still do not want a great deal of "design elements" around the waistband.  Perhaps something along the lines of Claire Shaeffer's pattern?

To be made ...






Softstar Moc3 RunAmoc

Asolo Athena

SHOES
And I must bring running shoes (and the basics of running gear), for each trip.  Running may be the only chance I have to push my cardiovascular system while out of town.  I will need to balance between space considerations and weight, as well as versatility.  I rarely wear athletic shoes if I'm not actually being athletic.

Shopping and city gawking: sandals or ballerina flats.

Hiking: sandals or ballerina flats.  (Although, for a technical trail I will bring running shoes.)

Hanging around at a rental: barefoot.

As a result, my carry-on usually has, you will be shocked, sandals and ballerina flats.  Period.

I may finally breakdown and buy a pair of Soft Star Shoes Moc3 RunAmoc slip-ons.  It's a safe bet they would not take up much room!  But they really aren't wear anywhere else shoes, are they?

To be decided ...

Cold weather kinda throws a monkey-wrench in the works.  I know some people wear their sandals in winter (Hello Mom!), but I am not one of those.  My toes get cold.

Being that Yellowstone would bring freezing temps and rain/snow into my little world, I knew I needed hiking boots that covered my ankles, but still gave me some ground feedback (I am sticking with minimal in shoes).  I ordered several items from Merrell and other companies, but the ground feedback was non-existent and the foot pans far too rigid to make me happy for any length of time.

Purchased Asolo Athena.  Kept Asolo Athena.  Tramped throughout Yellowstone in Asolo Athena.

Do feet change with minimal shoe transition?

How have my feet changed with minimal shoes?


I really had not thought about the answer to this question until I saw someone write about their shrinking foot in the VFFs, having to go down a size.


I have not noticed a size change with my foot, nor have I noticed an arch change.  I suspect this is because I regularly go barefoot in the summer, and I was a dancer as a kid.  Dancing has left a very long lasting impression on my body, and I suspect part of my foot health can be contributed to this early experience (no, I was not in the original ballet toe shoes for very long).




However, I have noticed three major changes following 3/4 of a year in minimal shoes with regular (3 to 6x per week workouts): 1) more resistant to cold, 2) less spider veins, and 3) more sensitive to pressure.




COLD RESISTANCE
My feet were always cold.  Even if going barefoot in summer, I'd be wearing a pair of socks.


However, in the last six months, this has been much less of a problem.  I only recently noticed, because I wasn't wearing out socks nearly as quickly, that I could stand on my tile floor for much longer without my feet turning into ice cubes.  This is a nice change.

If I try to slip into bed with icy feet and cold everything else, it will take me hours to fall asleep.  My core temperature must fall to a fairly low point.

Now, everything else may be cold, but my feet are not icy ... it does not take me nearly so long to fall asleep.  I could probably change this with a couple glasses of hot water or tea!

LESS SPIDER VEINS
My feet, my brother's feet, and my dad's feet - along the inner (medial vs. lateral) side - are covered in spider veins.  Definitely a family trait.  Those red and blue veins do not hurt, but they are rather unattractive.  Whenever my brother and I would joke about being adopted, we'd just look at dad's feet and go, "Nope, we're in the right family."


So imagine my surprise when I took a look at my feet after several months of minimal shoes and exercise, and lo and behold, I have many fewer spider veins than I used to have.  Granted they have not all disappeared, and I'm sure quite a bit of it is the exercise too, but wow, what a change.  I wish I had taken before pictures ...




MORE SENSITIVE TO PRESSURE
I have a large-ish shoe wardrobe, and while I don't have any ridiculous heels (nothing much over 2.5 inches in height), I do have some shoes that make pressure spots on my feet.  Before I went to minimal shoes, the pressure spots were fairly easy to handle, even if I was teaching all day long.


Fast forward several months, and those easy to handle pressure spots are not so easy to handle anymore.  In other words, my feet have become more sensitized.  I have several pairs of shoes that may end up in the donation bin due to this problem.

I have also lost a lot of the calluses on my feet as a result of wearing more minimal sole shoes.  The ones I have not lost are steadily shrinking.

I keep waiting for the fat pads on the bottom of my feet to thicken, but so far, I am waiting in vain ... perhaps that change will come next year (hey, I could gain a cm in height ...).

Other Minimal Shoes

My minimal trip through shoeville continued with further purchases for more "everyday" wear, and a continuing search for cross training shoes (which I've just about given up).



I bought a pair of Soft Star Shoes for winter wear.  My biggest issue with VFFs is that my ankles were getting cold.  I wanted shoes I could wear socks with.

So I ordered my Soft Star Original RunAmoc in smooth leather, size 8.5 as per a conversation with Soft Star (they were really helpful).  My only complaint about them is the width.  They are hugely wide, especially in the heel.  I've caught my shoe on stuff walking/jogging/jumping around my house, that I have never caught shoes on before (like the dogs' water bowl as I hopped around it).  And it is all due to the excessive width.  Since these are unisex, I suppose the width makes sense.  However, I have a B width forefoot, and probably a slightly narrow heel, so these are sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. 

Those "Original RunAmocs" are heading to the donation pile, because I got much better SoftStar shoes.  The above are a lovely size 9 narrow sheepskin lined Ramblers.

http://www.softstarshoes.com/adult-shoes/rambler-nutmeg.html

Oh, ah!  They fit so much better.  I no longer feel as though I am wearing too big hand me downs.

As per SoftStars measuring table, I am the small side of their normal width.  Being that I just so happened to catch their spring sale, and they had two narrow size 9s up, I bought them both.  A subsequent purchase or two on another sale netted me two more 9 narrows, and I wouldn't buy another normal width SoftStar ever again.

I am quite happy with close fitting, though not tight shoes.

I am now the happy owner of two pair of RunAmocs: black and chocolate - both narrow size 9s.

http://www.softstarshoes.com/adult-shoes/dash-runamoc-all-smooth-black.html

And my last (latest?) SoftStars are one single pair of Merry Janes, also size 9 narrow.
http://www.softstarshoes.com/adult-shoes/merry-jane-chocolate.html


An actually cute, no foolin' pair of girly minimal shoes.  Bronze leather.  There are, however, two issue with these: lining and velcro.

Lining -  Holy blackened feet, Batman! The lining dye's my feet every wearing ... each and every single time.  Not something I can comfortably slip off and go barefoot after a couple hours use.  I look live I've got a serious fungal infection.  Yes, it does wash off, but yuck!

Velco - This is a minor quibble, and due mostly to old fashioned opinions and a high instep.  The strap is held on by a length of velcro sewed to the side.  You can see it in the bottom most picture.  And that is my problem, velcro is for kid's shoes, and my shoes should not show velcro!  If the bit sewn on the shoe was shorter, it would not be an issue as it would not be visible.  Still, very comfortable.



SoftStar is now offering several of their shoes in a narrow without charging extra, but there is still an additional charge with narrow Merry Janes.  I think it is worth it.





After all of this rigamaroll, I still didn't have anything for aerobics, since I don't actually work out in my Soft Star shoes, those are my nice shoes!


So I purchased three minimal-ish running shoes.

The Ecco Biom, Women's size 41, (another awesome discount sale), and I do not like them.  They do not feel right, nor do I like to run in them.  They have spent the majority of their wear time as walking shoes on vacation.  If they weren't such a pretty color, I'd donate them.

Additionally, they are wearing quickly, so I do not expect them to last long.  They have less than 100 miles on them, and I'm not sure they will make it to 200.

The Vivobarefoot Neo (sale), Women's 42, and I do not like these either.  I've hardly worn them ... which is a good indication that they need to visit Goodwill.  I feel like I am strongly inverting when I wear these, an extraordinarily disconcerting sensation.

Finally, the Saucony Kinvara 2.  These work very well for running, but very poorly for aerobics.  These have a lot of width stabilization built into the sole, which makes for a trippy (literally) experience when trying to perform any kind of side kicks, grapevines, or box steps ... especially when tired and coordination goes flying out the window. 


Behind my VFF KSO Treks, this is probably my second favorite running shoes.

When I read about Micah True having disappeared on a run and rescuers were looking for the triangle shaped imprints from soles of his shoes, I suspected he was weary a Kinvara.  Finding out he had a relationship with Saucony kind of confirmed the impression.  A strange result that, "Hello, I represent Saucony ... yes, the ultrarunning Micah True was wearing our shoes when he died."  It was a sad day when that legendary heart gave out, he had a remarkable story to tell!




So to conclude this long journey, SmartWool Toe socks turned my 0 to 30 minute exercise only VFF KSO Treks into 80 minute plus cross train and running shoes and winter shoes.  Thank goodness for woolen socks.  :)

Minimal Shoes ... VFFs

WARNING, WARNING ... old, worn, thoroughly used shoe photos ahead.  These are not nice, neat, nor brand new shoes in the following photographs.  For the sensitive, avert your eyes ...





I can guarantee you one thing with a transition to "minimal shoes" ... you will learn proper exercise form, or else.  :)

I transitioned to approximately half my time in minimal shoes in late 2011.

I had seen Vibram Five Fingers (VFFs) for several years, and thought they looked a bit silly.  However, everything I read on them was intriguing and, since I happened upon a sale anyway, I decided to try a pair out.

FYI - For me personally, I don't have any trouble putting VFFs on, I find it easy to figure out where my toes go, and they slip on practically like slippers after all this time. 

Here are my first and favorite VFFs, the KSO Trek in kangaroo leather.  They fit my foot beautifully, and this is the only shoe I would wear if they were a touch more "acceptable."  I ordered them in a size 40 as per fitting recommendations.  This is my European shoe size.  In "American" shoes, I generally wear a women's 9.5B dress shoe or a 10B in athletic shoes.

My only problem?  I wish they reversed the velcro.  I cannot wear longer pants with these as the fabrics catch in the exposed hook side due to my high instep.

I will say, this is not your father's kangaroo leather, it is not stinky or thick, but supple and easy to deal with.  So far, I have not experienced the VFF funk I have read about on other forums.

I enjoyed the KSO Treks so much, that I ordered a second pair (also on sale), Jaya LRs in Almond/Copper color: size 41 (as per fitting recommendation).  These are like slippers, and they are my *only* house shoe for spring and fall.

I had two problems with these.  First off, they are a bit tighter in the pinky toe than the KSO Treks, and I fell asleep in them my second wearing.  When I woke up my pinky toes really hurt!  Ouch.  Moral of this story, don't fall asleep in new VFFs!  :)  They have since stretched out with wear, and I have fallen asleep in them several additional times without pain upon waking.

Second issue, since these have stretched out quite a bit, I cannot workout in them.  Hence the reason they are house shoes only.

My third pair of VFFs were the Performa Jane, size 41, which I absolutely love.  I wish they had a less wear-away base, because these would not last long on concrete.  They are great weight lifting, house, and relaxing shoe.  I don't expect them to have the longevity I would prefer.  I wish they came in a wider range of colors ... psst, Vibram FiveFingers, Give us warmer colored girls something to wear, wouldja?

My fourth pair of VFFs were the Sprint, size 41.  I strongly dislike this shoe.  If I had started with these, I would not have a good impression of VFFs and may never have purchased another pair.  I got these for aerobics because the tread on the Treks are too aggressive for slipping and side to side motion ... a basic requirement of kickboxing.  These are the shoes that taught me the lesson at the beginning of this post.  I get more numb toe issues with these VFFs than any other pair of shoes I've ever worn.  I also had to do major surgery to these to make them halfway wearable by slicing the elastic at the heel.  Surgery did not improve them enough to make them wearable.

I usually wear my shoes into the ground before I replace them.  These are not going to make it that far.  I have considered, more than once, turning them into: dog toys or trash dwellers.

Moral of this portion?  If you have tried VFFs and had a bad experience but like the idea of the shoes, you might consider another style.  Because the style you picked may have been bad for you, not necessarily the entire line.





But I still had issues with my KSO Treks, I have hot spots develop when doing cross training movements.  TaDa ... SmartWool Toe Socks ...

Yeah, KSO Treks dye my socks pretty badly.  I've never had the KSO Treks dye my feet when worn without socks ... but I suspect leather and wool dye have many similarities in property, and I'm just glad the dye issue stops with my socks.

Something I figured out pretty early on, when putting on the socks, pinch a quarter of an inch or so beyond your toe.  If the socks are pulled on really tight, exercise could tighten them more and dig into the soft tissue between your toes.



And here we are ...

 

 

No more hot spots, no more blisters, regardless of how much horizontal stress movement I place on my feet.  Good thing too, since I haven't found anything that works as well as my VFF KSO Treks.  I hope VFF brings back the kangaroo leather soon.