My mom bought me a pair of Skecher's shape-ups for my birthday. I was kind of excited, but also nervous at the same time. If you don't know what shape-ups are, they are a uniquely designed shoe by Skecher's that are made to firm and tone your muscles. They are made so that they force you to walk correctly. So, they have this arched design so you kind of roll back and forward in them. Now, for a person that is accident prone and falls a lot, this is kind of scary. Seems to me these are the exact kind of shoes that would do me in. Yet, I certainly could benefit from firm and tone muscles by simply wearing them when I'm walking around all the time anyway!
I've had them for about a month now and have probably been on 6-8 walks ranging from 20 minutes to an hour. I had not had one fall or accident! In fact, these shoes were incredibly comfortable and I felt like I walked better and safer than I ever have....until tonight that is...
I was walking around in search of a vegan cupcake or some kind of vegan dessert. I had such a craving for something, but I didn't feel like driving anywhere. I wasn't sure I would have any luck finding something downtown, but figured it was worth exploring. Since I was going out walking, I instantly put on my shape-ups! Time to work those calves and glutes...lol!
I have a bad habit (or maybe it's not really a bad habit, just a habit) of rocking on my feet and standing on my tip toes when I'm bored standing at a don't walk sign. I get lucky a lot and usually don't have to stop, or I just change direction so I don't have to stop. Tonight, however, I did have to stop and it was at a VERY long light. Before I knew it I was doing the rocking thing and standing on my tips toes and getting all anxious for the light to go to walk. With normal shoes that's not really that risky, but with shape-ups the rocking back and forth can really throw you off balance...and for a person that already has balance issues, that's a recipe for disaster!
So, I was standing at the edge of the sidewalk and I came off my tip toes and back on to my heal (mind you the arched heal that kind of flings you back when you are not actually walking), and I started to fall backwards and lost my balance. In an attempt to correct myself I pulled forward by wildly swinging my arms and throwing myself forward, but I was a little too zealous in my correction and managed to fling myself forward and fall off the sidewalk just as a bicyclist was approaching and I fell almost on queue to when he approached and his bike went right over my back across my shoulders. He lost control of his bike and fell off and I was laying face down on the street with a tire track across my back. To make it even more humiliating, there was a cop waiting at the light and he turned his lights on and came over to the "scene". He said "I've never seen anyone do that in the 20 years I've been a cop." He suggested that I stay at least 5-10 feet off the curb when waiting at a crosswalk and that maybe I use the "buddy" system. Great, he thought I was "special". The bicyclist was kind of pissed and yelling at me...thanks for the sympathy buddy! You just ran me over! Ok, ok...I did fall and I did cause him to fall, but jeez, I still got run over.
My lesson is learned...I will most definitely stop standing on my tip toes when I'm in the shape-ups! And, yes officer, I will stand further away from the curb in the future.
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