You Run in Those?! The sandal life

“You run in those?”

“You hike in those?”

“You wear those in the snow?”

Yes, yes and yes.

When I met Scott he wore sandals for pretty much everything. The only time I saw him in boots was on the ski hill. He did have one pair of shoes, and he reluctantly (I now realize) wore them on one of our first dates, to the opera.

Me, not so much. My shoe size was 11 by the time I was 11, so I was teased a lot. My feet were skinny and my toes were long, which made finding shoes difficult. As an adult, in the common way of obsession with what is hard to get, I was constantly looking for, and buying, shoes.

Shoes, pretty shoes, that covered up my ugly feet. Although I might expose the ends of my toes (never the full toe!) my sandals were more like shoes with some holes in the side. I could wear my orthotics in them.

When I first went to Barbados to meet Scott, when the Canada-US border was closed for Covid and keeping us apart, I gathered up my courage and bought sandals that showed my toes. It was part of my new life, my brave travels, and a big step away from the hiding and control of my previous life.

Living in the tropics (our 3 month trip turned into almost 4 years) tends to make you a minimalist! Shoes, bras and other restrictive clothing, long hair, makeup, caring about what other people thought— they all fell quickly to the wayside.

I spent a lot of time barefoot, and my sandals lightened: less straps, thinner soles, no heel lift. Scott was constantly searching for better sandals, and he started buying me pairs, too, to see if something would be comfortable enough for me to wear all the time. He ran in “slippers,” as they call them in Barbados, so he was replacing his as regularly as other athletes do their running shoes. I wore out my dress flip-flops, and the original orange sandals, with their wide straps and thick soles, were relegated to cockroach killing.

Last summer, at the Wave, an on-land surfing pool in Bristol, UK, I found my perfect sandals. They were green and basically a couple of straps that hold the protective sole on my feet. I wear them almost always and in a year have worn the sole smooth. But don’t worry, I ordered another pair.

Scott will wear tabi socks with his sandals if there is snow; I might add socks if the temperature is single digit. (Below 10C)

I do wear sports shoes occasionally, if I am hiking off trail and don’t want my feet scratched. Ironically, my one ankle injury happened in the Arctic two years ago, while wearing full hiking boots. Back in Canada this spring, I got rid of the last of my dress shoes and am almost always in sandals.

Like my spirit, my footwear is much lighter, and my feet and my soul much stronger and more free.

And I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about it.