Day 180-She did the mash! She did the Monster Mash!

Oh, man. 

I know that the last 6 months haven't been terribly scientific, but apparently, it's been scientific enough. 

Case in point: 

For the first time in 180 days, I wore shoes. Common shoes. Accepted shoes. Shoes that are considered "walking" shoes.

I had a horrible walk. 

Neutral-heel shoes have retrained my body and muscles over the past 6 months, allowing my body to function and move as it was built to function and move. 

But it's cold, and when I tried to pull my Sockwas on over socks:

they were tight and uncomfortable. I knew it wouldn't be a good walk in them, and it was time to go, so I threw in the towel, dug to the bottom of the hall closet and grabbed those Hi-Tec walking shoes. 

Huh. Walking shoes, my *ss! Immediately, my hips were pushed forward, my lower back pinched in response, my ribs thrust forward, my butt clenched to try and balance it all out and my feet felt like they were wrapped in cement. 

The Huz turned to me after about a block and said, "Hey, you're walking funny. Like Frankenstein."

"I know!" I wailed, "These things SUCK!" 

So, by the end of the walk, my knee--the one that hasn't hurt in months--was hurting and my ribs were sore from the forced forward-thrust and, well, dang it! My research has shown me that I move naturally when I'm not fouling up my alignment with the wrong shoes. However, you may not know you're wearing the wrong shoes until you wear the right shoes.

My conclusion? I will not wear positive-heel shoes. They mess you up, and after 6 months of improvement and virtually pain-free living, I believe I'll figure out any way to wear neutral heel shoes the rest of my life. 

Here's what I sort of felt like on my walk:

 

Not pretty at all, huh? Societal norms be damned, I'm wearing neutral-heel shoes from now on, Baby.

Yours in foot love, 
Dani