Walking to Hmart or Trader Joe’s and back (aka ~2.5 miles) has been rough on my legs lately. I suspect it may be my shoes. Something similar happened this time last year; those problems disappeared when I replaced the worn out heels of my Skechers Delson-Camden slip-ons.
This time, another pair of Skechers could be at fault. The white Skechers Sports Vigor sneakers I bought for Tzu Chi events (white shoes are a part of their dress code) are size 8.5. My (now retired) Skechers slip-ons were size 8, but I reasoned half a size bigger should be fine because of socks. Unfortunately, that reasoning turned out to be invalid.
The difference in size wasn’t all that great; I was able to get by by tightening my shoelaces…or so I thought. Even with tightened shoelaces, some extra space behind the heel remains and that may be putting extra stress on my legs. Not to mention, I am by no means perfect; oftentimes I don’t tighten the laces to their full extent, making things worse.
Anyway, this theory is hard to confirm. At the moment, it is all a guess. As for next steps (pun intended), I’m going to return to using my Salomons as my primary; the Skechers will be delegated to Tzu Chi volunteer events.
PS: shoe sizes are truly a pain-in-the-***. The amount of disparity between manufacturers and even different different models from the same brand is frightening; believe it or not, my Salomons are size 9.5.
